106 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



At 6.25 there is exactly the same scene over again — as far at 

 least as I can follow it. The male flies in to the same or nearly 

 the same place, the female comes flying up to him, seems just 

 to pass him merely, then settles and utters the plaintive- sound- 

 ing but in reality satisfied note — for whereas I had thought this 

 a demand or petition for the morsel, it seems in reality to be the 

 note of contentment, after having received it. In what follows, 

 however, I am less lucky, not being able to see the hawk plum- 

 ing or otherwise manipulating what she has got ; but I see her, 

 shortly, fly back towards the nest and disappear amidst the 

 branches in which it is situated. Soon afterwards the male 

 leaves his perch, and settles somewhere near. An interesting 

 point to note is that, each time, the male has flown in to one 

 point in a corner of the plantation — perhaps into the same tree, 

 and this is either the actual one or the one next to it, in which, 

 low down, is the deserted Jay's nest, where a dead bird — a young 

 but fully-feathered Eedstart — was placed by one of the hawks, 

 and taken by the female on the following morning. 



June 30th. — To-day, I only got to the plantation at 11.15 

 a.m., and disturbed the female hawk (I think) sitting on one of the 

 trees near where I was going to take up my position. I walked 

 to look at the nest— finding it empty — and then sat down where 

 I had yesterday, wishing to make the same observations. In 

 ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, there was a rushing in the 

 air and the female hawk came sweeping through the trees 

 towards the male, whom I caught sight of almost at the same 

 time. It was the same as yesterday, except that the female 

 seemed more fiercely insistent, her cry more importunate, even 

 aggressive — indeed, it was very much like the swoop of a Lesser 

 Skua after Gull or Tern, to force them to disgorge their fish. 

 As before I found it impossible to see the actual delivery, and 

 afterwards, though I got two or three views of the female hawk, 

 I could never make out whether she carried anjihing, so that, 

 getting impatient, I stalked her, as she flew from tree to tree, 

 and, at last, out of the plantation, without being any the wiser. 

 I then went to my usual observatory for the nest, and, in a few 

 minutes time, she flew in, tore up something and distributed it 

 to the young. My reading of the whole thing is as follows : — 

 The female hawk had become impatient for supplies and left the 



