152 WOODLAND CREATURES 



she does but little killing until the young are a 

 fair size. One thing she always does is to break 

 up all the carcasses, and portion them out, a duty 

 never undertaken by the male ; indeed, should 

 any accident befall the hen while the nestlings 

 are too young to tear up their own food they are 

 almost certain to starve. They will die from 

 want in the midst of plenty, as their father, though 

 continuing to bring all the birds required, will 

 merely deposit them on the edge of the nest, and 

 never dream of tearing them to pieces. 1 



The young when first hatched are quaint little 

 atoms clad in white down, and often differ con- 

 siderably in size, owing not only to the differences 

 between the sexes, but to some being older than 

 the others. The fact of the old bird beginning 

 to sit before her clutch is complete, makes a con- 

 siderable difference between the hatching of the 

 first and last eggs, especially as they are usually 

 laid at intervals of every other day. 



The old hawk is a most devoted mother, brood- 

 ing and tending the young with the greatest 

 care. At first she cleans the nest, but as the 

 nestlings get stronger they void their excrement 

 over the side of the platform, by which means 

 the covert undergrowth gets plentifully splashed 

 with " whitewash " for some distance around 

 the nest. This often betrays the family to the 

 passing keeper, who deals with the situation by 

 putting a charge of shot through the bottom of 

 the nest ! 



1 J. H. Owen, in British Birds, vol. x, p. 56. 



