174 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



stayed in the tent till 4.45, up to which time she had not 

 returned, so he gave up. 



25th July. The young had travelled some distance from 

 the nest and were hiding in the bracken, where E.H.C. 

 found them through the female jumping and retiring to a 

 fir tree not far off, where she was mobbed for about 10 

 minutes by chaffinches, blue tits, and coaltits. E.H.C. tried 

 to stalk her with a 16in. lens, but she refused to allow him 

 to come near enough to get a satisfactory picture. So he 

 returned and captured the young birds in order to photograph 

 them ; they resented interference, made themselves look as 

 fierce as possible and made a noise something like that of 

 a kitten swearing, but hardly as loud. The females, quitting 

 young, fly very weakly with wings down and tail depressed, 

 often pitching within 20 yards with wings spread on the 

 ground ; on following, the females behave not unlike a plover 

 seeking to entice strangers from the proximity of the nest. 



Nest C. 



18th July. This bird had hatched one young one, which 

 we noted grew very rapidly, presumably by reason of 

 its having a monopoly of the entire food supply brought by 

 the parents. 



9th August. This young one was 2-3rds grown and was 

 able to fly 100 yards. It was still in the nest, but quitted 

 immediately we approached, having been roused by the hen 

 which was still attending it, and who flew off and then stood 

 about 200 yards away watching us. An examination of the 

 insect remains in the nest revealed a large number of moth 

 remains, but we were only able certainly to identify Agrotis 

 pronuba, Agrotis comes, Agrotis tritici, Feltia exclamationis , 

 Xylophasia polyodon. The large noctuse were apparenth r 

 sucked dry through a hole in the posterior end of, the abdomen, 

 the smaller ones were only evidenced by wings in such a 

 battered condition that identification was impossible. 

 Carine noctua (The Little Owl). 



Mr. S. H. Wallis, of Chesterfield Place, Weymouth, writes 

 (under date 4th February, 1916), " You know how the Little 



