120 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiii. 



In the second nest, the hen did a great deal of preening and 

 very little stretching while the sun was on the nest. At 

 this nest the sun was full on it from 2.30 to 5, and we had 

 some really hot days. She sat only for short periods during 

 the time the sun troubled her, and occasionally flew 

 away from the nest, to return shortly with a small twig. 

 These twigs were sometimes placed with care, but more often 

 quite casually dropped on the rim of the cup. 



Unfortunately, she never made the slightest pause on the 

 nest when she brought a twig, and so I never succeeded in 

 getting a photographic record of it. This bird also brought 

 fresh leaves to the nest occasionally and dropped them in the 

 cup of the nest. The curious thing was that she always 

 brought elm leaves, and there was no elmtree within a hundred 

 yards, the nest being in an oak wood and actually built in 

 an oak. Young ash, poplars, lime and hornbeam lay between 

 the nearest elm and the nest. The wood is more than sixty 

 acres in extent, and I do not think there are half a dozen elms 

 in it. The selection of elm leaves is the more curious as the 

 Hawk usually builds the greater part of the nest of the same 

 wood as the tree in which the nest is placed. The other nest 

 gave better results, as I had strong sun on the nest every 

 afternoon I visited it after the eggs had hatched. This bird 

 was very timid and often stayed away for some time after 

 I had got into the hut. She would usually wait until she had 

 got food from the cock, and then come and feed the young. 

 After the meal, which of course she served up with her back 

 to the wind, she would not brood if the sun was very strong. 

 She would try to make her body a sun screen instead, even when 

 the young were very small. She would partly expand and 

 depress her wings so that her bulk would throw a big shadow. 

 Then if her body was not in a direct line from the sun to the 

 young she would gradually edge round the rim of the nest 

 until it was ; that is, until the rays of the sun were directly 

 on her back. She then, while the young were very small, 

 would very slowly move forward into the cup of the nest and 

 crouch there so that the young were completely shaded by her. 

 At this stage she did not fan her tail at all. As the young 

 grew and filled the nest her methods became different. Her 

 tail was slightly fanned, and instead of crouching low over the 

 young she gradually assumed a more upright position. Her 

 wings were not so much expanded and she made no attempt 

 to screen all the young. She simply turned her back to the 

 sun, and if a young one wished to make use of her shadow, 

 it was welcome to it. Usually only one did so, or tried to 

 do so, at a time, but the heat kept the young perpetually 



