Bruderchen und Schwesterchen. 57 
CHAPTER V. 
Last DAYS IN THE EYRIE. 
EFORE describing the last few watches, I might mention 
that, although I describe the birds as toothless, there 
is a little triangular nick on each side of the beak into 
which a toothlike projection in the lower jaw fits, a convenient 
arrangement with a large mouthful. The castings so frequently 
mentioned were hard, grey slug-shaped bodies, entirely composed 
of compressed feathers. One of average size, which looked like 
half a squashed fat cigarette, when teased out in a half-pint bottle 
of water, formed a dense cloud of down and feathers. Mr. George 
Mitchell of Bingley, an ardent follower of the ancient sport of 
kings, tells me that falconers examine the castings carefully; a 
moist and loose casting denotes ill-health of the falcon. 
During my next watch, on June 6th, I noted that the young 
did a great deal of preening. Their heads are quite dark now, 
with just a speck of down here and there, the breasts are 
beginning to feather, and on their backs are two narrow feathered 
bands, making a pattern like an inverted figure 8. The base of the 
tail is still downy. One of the young females, after she had 
preened, went to sleep at the front of the eyrie, and with her head 
tucked over her left shoulder looked as if decapitated. The young 
occasionally stand on one foot, generally the left. In preening 
they pass each feather through the beak, and the liberated down 
either floats away or is swallowed. When they shake themselves 
a lot comes off and floats away. One youngster cocked his head 
round and watched the down floating upwards. I examined a 
piece which came into the shed; it had a stem about one-eighth 
of an inch long, branching into forty streamers. As each finished 
preening, it backs to the edge of the eyrie and, grasping the rock 
firmly with its talons, beats its wings vigorously for a minute or 
two. The young ravens used to do the same thing during their last 
