226 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol xv. 



disappear over the hilltop. This she actually did, but 

 always returned silently and unostentatiously to another 

 part of the hill, there to settle and watch. The moment 

 the intruder moved away again, once more she would rise 

 and " Kek " angrily overhead until he was completely out 

 of sight, when she would quietly resume' her post on the 

 boulder. 



On one occasion, towards the end, I came alone to the 

 hide. Incidentally I came up the valley of the little stream, 

 so that the bird probably saw me at least twenty minutes 

 before I reached the nest. She was neither to be seen nor 

 heard. I thought the fates were with me and that I could 

 creep in unobserved. No sooner had I got inside than she 

 rose from the bare ground on the top of the hill, " Keking " 

 her loudest. Over and over again she flew across the hide, 

 sometimes almost touching it, " Keking " her wildest " Keks," 

 but as I made no movement, eventually went to her boulder 

 and " Keked " there. This she kept up for half an hour, 

 once in a while sailing over the hide and nest, when the cock 

 arrived, unsuspecting, with food. She " Eeped." took the 

 food and returned to her boulder, again " Keking." For 

 another hour and a half she sat there and " Keked," mixing 

 this up from time to time with the " Eep," as though the 

 food was ever in her mind. The behaviour of the young 

 was most interesting now, for every time she uttered the 

 " Eep " they responded, but the moment she went back to 

 the "Kek" they instantaneously "froze." Then, for no 

 reason that I could see, the mother suddenly summoned up 

 courage and flew down with the prey. The young seemed 

 quite surprised after all the false warniiigs of the_ previous 

 hour. 



Except on this occasion, I was always accompanied by 

 another person when I went in to the hide, the other person 

 walking away when I was settled in. In my experience 

 this is the only safe way of taking up one's position. I 

 have yet to meet the bird that can count up to two.* 



It proved just as effective with this species as with any 

 other, but as one may imagine it was no easy matter to find 

 some one day after day to do the tramp of four rough miles 

 just to see me crawl into my hide, and then to return. Some- 

 times I arranged with one of the keepers to meet me there, 

 at others I bribed a couple of the sanatorium boys to come 

 with me, 



* Birch cited me a most interesting case of Crows on which this 

 trick absolutely failed. 



