322 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



a man was saying in the bar that the nest had been broken up 

 and the birds carried off by some men on the previous Sunday. 



April 8th. — Found our way across the fells and caught the 

 shepherd at dinner. He told us that the birds were quite 

 safe, but that the previous Sunday some men had tried to get 

 them by breaking up the nest with a long pole. The young had 

 fallen during the night to the foot of the cliff, where he had 

 found them in the early morning, and he had climbed up and 

 placed them in an old nest lower down than their own, and 

 which, probably owing to its accessibility, had not been occupied 

 during recent years. He took us to the nest, and told us that 

 to the knowledge of his family the cliff had been occupied every 

 year for the last century. He also said that they had no enmity 

 towards the Kavens, as they only attacked dead or dying sheep 

 and lambs, that they were not as harmful as the Carrion-Crow, 

 and that the young were fed on sheep's placenta and carrion, of 

 which latter the Eavens made hidden stores, which his dogs 

 occasionally nosed out. Presently we caught sight of one of 

 the birds soaring up over the edge of the cliff, soon joined by 

 its mate, and then as we got nearer I heard for the first time 

 the hoarse bark with which I was to become so familiar. 



The nest from which the young had fallen was not in the 

 alcove, as described by Earl, but in a dark chasm in the angle 

 of the cliff — a much more difficult site ; so that the marauders had 

 done us a good turn. The shepherd told us that, although the 

 alcove was a favourite nesting-site, as it could only be got at with 

 a ladder, yet it was very exposed to gales, and he had known the 

 nest to be blown out bodily. The young lay flattened out in the 

 nest, each with a timorous wide-open grey eye cocked up at us. 



The present nest was well situated for photographic purposes, 

 but badly for watching, as the only site for the tent was about 

 one hundred feet away and below the level of the nest, so that 

 only the edge was visible. 



Selous thought that to ensure the safety of the young the 

 nest had better be watched day and night, and proposed watching 

 the first night ; so in the afternoon we hired a man to cart the 

 tent and bedding to the cliff. We put up the tent, and, after 

 covering it with heather, left Selous in it at 6 p.m. 



9th. — Earl released Selous at 9 a.m. He reported that ten 



