VOL. vn.] ■ NOTES. 267 



CURIOUS MISHAP TO KESTREL'S EGGS. 



On May 17th, 1913, my friend, the Rev. D. A. Scott, and 

 I visited the eyrie of a Kestrel {Falco t. tinnunculus) in a 

 rock, of which he knew. The bird flew off. On getting to 

 the eyrie I found rather a remarkable state of affairs. The 

 five eggs were embedded in a mass of pellets, as shown in 

 the accompanying photograph, and the bird was incubating 

 them in this extraordinary position. Mr. Scott visited the 

 site again on May 27th and found that two of the five 



jSEST of kestrel showing eggs embedded m REMAINS OP 

 PELLETS. 



eggs Mere entirely covered, one of them to the depth of half 

 an inch, and only a very small portion of the other three 

 could be seen. The site had been occupied in other seasons, 

 and as it was somewhat sheltered, no doubt a certain 

 amount of fragments of pellets from previous years had 

 remained on the ledge ; these, and those ejected shortly 

 before and after the eggs were laid, had doubtless been 

 softened by rain and the eggs had sunk into them. The 

 covering process would be assisted by pellets ejected as 

 incubation progressed. 



I visited the place after the nesting-season and found 

 the remains of the eggs lying broken in the eyrie. It is 

 curious to note that the bird apparently made no effort to 

 keep the eggs free from the surrounding material. 



Eric B, Dunlop. 



