VOL. XV.] BREEDING-HABITS OF MERLIN. 247 



began to whimper in response and expectation. When her 

 warning was followed by a rush of wings and she precipitated 

 herself on to the edge of the nest, they became positively 

 rowdy, and crowded clamouring round her. During one 

 feed I happened to move. Instantly the mother ceased her 

 rending of the prey and fixed a penetrating eye on the hide. 

 But she had not " Keked," and the young continued to 

 clamour and crowd on to her, so much so that since all 

 happened to be on one side, she would have lost her balance, 

 had she not shot out the off wing and saved herself (Fig. ii). 



One of the young was much smaller than the rest, and 

 proved to be backward both in feathering and behaviour. 

 The others now for the first time began to take an interest 

 in the legs of two Pipits left in the nest. Many times during 

 the day they tugged at them sometimes two pulling, one at 

 each end, " Keking " tiny miniature " Keks " at one another. 

 In the end the biggest of the brood managed to swallow 

 one. It took him nearly ten minutes, and more than once I 

 thought I should have to rush out to the rescue. With much 

 jerking of the head all disappeared with comparatively little 

 bother down to the foot, and it was then the real trouble 

 began. He craned his neck to the utmost and rolled his 

 eyes, straining every muscle to jerk it down. For many 

 seconds at intervals he sat and rested, the foot protruding 

 out of his beak. The long hind claw, the very last item to 

 be accommodated, necessitated a rest of over a minute before 

 sufficient effort could be made to stow it completely away. 

 This laid out the little hero of the episode for over an hour. 

 Nothing that his brothers did could induce him to stir. 



A favourite occupation now and later was the rubbing of 

 beaks. Any two happening to be together would spend 

 minutes on end at this game. The rest of the time was 

 passed in dozing and preening. 



On the 27th they were strong on their legs and for the first 

 time left the nest. This is characteristic of the Merlin at 

 this age and very necessary from a sanitary point of view. 

 Henceforward they were mostly just outside. As fortune 

 would have it, they moved towards the hide, so that I not 

 only had them in full view still, but nearer than formerly. 

 On being handled, one of them uttered for the first time 

 the " Kek " of the full-grown bird, though, no doubt, not so 

 strongly. The first pellet was produced by the little chap 

 who had the day before swallowed the Pipit's leg. It gave 

 him nearly as much trouble to eject this as the swallowing of 

 the leg had given him. 



