118 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xm. 



almost complete. February i6th and 17th were very sunny 

 days, the 15th fairly sunny, 8th and 9th sunny. The last 

 week of January, too, was very fairly sunny. This nest was 

 in the same fork which the birds had used in 1917, when the 

 nest was robbed and torn down. In March the boys found 

 the nest and at once, knowing it was new, began to climb up 

 to it so that the trunk was absolutely shiny before the end 

 of the term. I think some of the village boys used to visit 

 it in the holidays, for in May the bird had not laid, but started 

 a new nest at the end of April and completed it in a very few 

 days, but never got a chance to incubate. 



In 1917 this pair was building in March. I used to get 

 up early to try 'and find out if they built before sunrise and 

 had a succession of foggy or misty mornings. The hide was 

 of faggots and some way from the nest. I never saw either 

 bird near the nest before 8 a.m. No addition was visible 

 except after a sunny day, sometimes then very little, and 

 sometimes quite a lot generally after the brightest day. 

 When, however, one arranges the branches round the nest by 

 judicious lopping, so as to get the sun on the nest at a con- 

 venient time for hut observation, one cannot only get interest- 

 ing notes at close quarters, but occasionally a desirable 

 photograph. I have done this at four of the nests I have 

 hutted. The first time I did it foolishly, and the heat on the 

 hut was consequently almost unbearable when the sun was 

 on it. I only got very few notes or photographs, because 

 after my first terrible sufferings from the heat I arranged 

 strings from the hut to make a noise on the ground in order 

 to put the bird off as soon as the heat became really oppressive. 

 This bird was brooding, and always " stuck it out, " though 

 in great distress ; the sun made her pant almost as soon as 

 she got on the nest. She opened her bill and not only did 

 her tongue work, but the whole of her body vibrated with 

 the panting. Twice I watched her thus for periods of over 

 three hours on successive days at the end of July. During 

 these spells the cock did not come near, and as the young 

 were newly hatched and did not want much food, it was 

 obviously unnecessary to hunt in that heat ; it is possible, 

 of course, that sometimes he was out of luck, but the same 

 thing happened at other nests during about the same hours 

 too often for mere chance to be the right explanation. 



My other huts were better arranged. Two were built in 

 trees next to the nest-tree and one in the nest -tree. In the 

 first two there was no need to cut the foliage over the hut, 

 and in the third I was careful to leave as much as possible. 

 In each of these cases I had the hut ready some days before 



