30 



KEARTONS' NATURE PICTURES 



pair will turn up season after season at 

 the same place to breed. 



The female sits very closely, and when 



MERLIN'S NEST AND EGOS 



disturbed flies in circles high over the 

 head of her disturber, uttering shrill 

 alarm cries, which frequently bring her 

 mate upon the scene. During the period 

 of incubation the male provides the 

 female with all the food she requires. 

 I have frequently watched him bring 

 a small bird to some knoll a hundred 

 yards away from the nest, call his 

 mate to the place, and, whilst she has 



been engaged in plucking and eating 

 her meal, he has flown to the nest 

 and critically examined the eggs. The 

 male sparrow hawk sometimes does 

 precisely the same kind of thing, but 

 I have never seen one of either species 

 attempt to undertake the task of incu- 

 bation. 



During the period that young Merlins 

 are in down the female does not wander 

 far from the nest, but contents herself 

 by either brooding or waiting on some 

 commanding eminence for the return 

 of the male with prey, which she plucks 

 and divides amongst the members of 

 her voracious family. 



One day, whilst waiting for a Merlin 

 to come back to her fast feathering 

 chicks, a violent thunderstorm broke 

 over the hills. When the hail and rain 

 descended in earnest the youngsters 

 appeared to get frightened and began to 

 call out tway, tway, tway in the most 

 pathetic tones. This had the desired 

 effect, for the old bird soon faced the 

 ordeal of my lens ; but although I 

 secured two or three photographs they 

 were of very little use on account of the 

 miserably wet and bedraggled condition 

 of the bird. 



