198 



BHITISH BIRDS. 



[vol. XV. 



moved. After several attempts she gave this up and 

 endeavoured to roll the three to the one. The fact that 

 they kept sliding back into the nesting cup frustrated this 

 effort, and ended in her sitting in despair between the one 

 egg and the three. After several minutes of despondency 

 she made another assault on the single egg, finally hoisting 



Merlin : Fig. 6. Hen alighting in middle of e^ 

 {Photographed by W. Rowan.) 



it out of its bed successfully, when it was rolled home without 

 further trouble. 



For a number of days the weather was extremely hot. 

 Both birds showed great depression, sitting with gaping 

 mouth and tail and wings drooping (Fig. 8). During the 

 intense heat the hen would sometimes stand, panting, over 

 the eggs for an hour with wings hanging (Fig. 9) as though 



