VOL. xiTi.] NOTES. 29- 



over a couple of hurdles). It went in with a flop, and did 

 not appear to be attempting to catch anything. 



The young were fed at intervals of ten to fifteen minutes. 



E. W. Hendy. 



ON THE PROCURING OF FOOD BY THE MALE FOR 

 THE FEMALE AMONG BIRDS OF PREY. 



A POINT that needs careful investigation is the procuring and 

 distribution of the food-supply among birds of prey during 

 the period from before the nest is complete to the end of 

 incubation. My observations on this period are rather 

 limited, but as the results are interesting I hope that others 

 may be able to add to them. 



The cock Kestrel {Falco t. tinnunculus) procures food for 

 the hen, I think, as an amatory offering. Several times 

 I have watched cock Kestrels bring game, mostly mice, to 

 somewhere near the neighbourhood of the nest, and from a 

 lofty perch call loudly at intervals to the hen to come for it. 

 More than once during April 1919, long before Kestrels had 

 begun to lay in the district where I was, the cock has brought 

 his game to a perch almost over my head and called. It may 

 be that he has procured a supply in excess of his needs, but 

 I do not think this is the case, as I cannot recall an instance 

 of the hen offering to supply the cock. 



The cock Little Owl (Athene n. noctua) certainly procures 

 part of the food for the hen from the time laying commences, 

 if not earlier. These birds have larders where they keep any 

 excess of food, and the cock brings food from the larder 

 to the hen in the nesting hole as she requires it, or rather in 

 excess of her requirements. This food is of various forms, 

 and consists of small birds up to the size of a Blackbird, as 

 well as various kinds of mice and shrews. For example, on 

 one day the surplus consisted of a short-tailed field-mouse, 

 and a pigmy shrew, on another of a monster short-tailed field- 

 mouse ; while on another day the hen was feeding on earth- 

 worms, a favourite food in the winter. 



A striking pecularity is at once noticeable about the food 

 brought for the hen's use, and that is, that it is whole and not 

 beheaded or dressed in any way, as it is when brought for the 

 young. This is true of the food brought to Kestrel, Owl and 

 Sparrow-Hawk at this period. 



The cock Sparrow-Hawk brings food for the hen while she 

 is laying, and waits till she leaves the eggs : she then eats it 

 on some favourite dining-place near the nest. 



J. H. Owen.- 



