48 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



acted as I have described — apparently fed the young, that is to 

 say — she flew from the nest, again, and there was then the same 

 scene as before between the two birds. "When she returned, 

 she settled herself down at once, and it was now that the 

 Squirrel, having again come too near the nest, was a second 

 time driven away from it by the partner bird — in a perfunctory 

 sort of way, however, without the appearance of much indigna- 

 tion on the one side or of fear on the other. 



At 6.20 the bird on the nest stood up in it for a little, 

 and preened herself, then settled herself down in it again, and 

 thus I left her at 7. 



Thus, though the male does not share in the present duties 

 of the female (whether they be those of incubation or of feeding 

 the young, I am not yet perfectly clear), he yet visits the 

 nesting-grove, and also, evidently, from the Squirrel incident, 

 takes an interest in home affairs. I now, too, feel pretty sure 

 that a bird I had once or twice seen, or got glimpses or hearings 

 of in the coppice (see last entry), was the male hawk. 



June 7th. — Was at the same place in the coppice as early or 

 earlier than yesterday, but it was not nearly such a good seance. 

 Either I must have missed the birds leaving the nest and return 

 to it, or else she stayed on till past 6 a.m., when I startled her 

 off it. In any case, she did not leave the nest in the same inte- 

 resting manner, at the call of the male, to foregather with him. 

 He, I have reason to think, was in the plantation from time to 

 time, but nothing took place between the two, such as yesterday 

 — within my knowledge, at least, and it could hardly have 

 escaped me. The bird, I think, must still be incubating, and 

 what has sometimes looked like feeding the young must have 

 been the care of the eggs and the casting up of pellets. The in- 

 coming bird has never once, as far as I have been able to see, 

 brought anything in her claws, and when I once thought she 

 did, in her beak, it may well have been that as she alighted, or 

 just before, she began the extrusion of the object described by 

 me, which in appearance quite answered to a pellet, for it was 

 the proper elongated shape, and had the moist darkish appear- 

 ance that wet hair or feathers would probably have presented. 

 General indications accord with the theory of incubation — for 

 instance, the bird's frequent return to the nest, this morning. 



