180 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



prey, at a time when, in all probability, the young were out, 

 though, as their arrival must have been, at most, a very recent 

 event, this may have related rather to the incubatory period 

 than the one succeeding it. 



The male only brings the booty procured by him to the near 

 neighbourhood of the nest (showing a choice of locality in this 

 respect), where it is received by the female, the delivery taking 

 place either on the branch of a tree or in the air. If, however, 

 she is slow in coming, he grows impatient, and may then fly to 

 the nest, and there alight and deposit his offering. This is a 

 very rare occurrence, but it would, not improbably, always 

 take place were the arrival of the female to be inordinately 

 delayed. 



Having, only in one instance, seen the female hawk pluck 

 the bird that was delivered to her, and that, as it appeared to 

 me, to but a modified extent, it would appear that this office is 

 performed by the male. Such plucking may be an instinctive 

 or accustomed act following close upon the striking of the prey, 

 in which case we need not associate it with any conscious 

 idea, in the male hawk's mind, of doing a service to his 

 partner. A question, however, is raised by the condition of 

 the dead Eedstart that had been deposited in a Jay's nest. 

 Not a feather of this bird appeared to have been so much as 

 ruffled, so that unless it was afterwards plucked by either of the 

 birds, and left there (probably partially devoured), it must have 

 been eaten, feathers and all, by the female, for assuredly she did 

 not, at that time, pluck it, or I must have observed her doing so. 

 There were no feathers on the ground underneath the branch 

 where she sat feasting, nor did any fly out on the air. Possibly, 

 however, some other plucked bird had been left in the place of 

 this earlier deposit after I left the plantation at 7 a.m. on the 

 day that I made the discovery — for I did not return till the 

 following morning. In any case, we have the fact of the storing 

 and subsequent seizure, though only — demonstrably — in this one 

 instance. 



Besides plucking or ** pluming " the bird brought in by him, 

 the male, it seems likely, frequently makes his own meal on it, 

 so that the final presentation to the female is of a morsel and 

 not a whole dish. I know not how else to account for the 



