af Pe advancing tide of knowledge, 65 
thought it quite possible that it might be discovered in the egg. 
Confirmation of this view reaches me while revising these sheets, 
in a letter from King, who says he visited the eyrie on April oth, 
1913, and found three eggs, one of which was larger than the others 
and weighed fifty-eight grains more, the difference between the two 
small eggs being not more than a grain.* Notwithstanding their 
liveliness in getting to the front when feeding was going on, and the 
fact that the Tiercel always seemed to take care that the males 
got enough, yet one always seemed to fare the worst, so that at the 
end of their stay in the eyrie, though there was no perceptible 
difference between the two females, one of the males might always 
be singled out as the Benjamin of the family. 
In 1911, owing to there only being two, the increased allowance 
of food led, as in the case of ravens, to their more rapid develop- 
ment. It was on an occasion when the Falcon dropped a hen black- 
bird into the eyrie, and after watching for a minute or two flew 
away, that I got the only evidence I have seen of the sense of taste. 
The young female, after eating steadily for some minutes, at last 
got to the intestines. Then I saw her pass a loop through her 
beak, snapping her mandibles as if tasting it and then, dropping it, 
she shook her head and retired behind a rock. There must have 
been something wrong about this blackbird, for the young male, 
who immediately dragged it into a corner, after eating for ten 
minutes, came to the front and was violentty sick three or four 
times, bringing up a little red casting each time. I got no evidence 
of the sense of smell, and although Dr. Penrose has lately given 
an example of its use in the stone curlew, I have never been able 
to satisfy myself of birds becoming aware of my presence by its 
means. The most striking example was when, in a hiding tent 
by a marshy mud flat, with the wind behind me, black-headed gulls, 
a peewit and a curlew walked past without becoming aware of 
my presence. Quite different was the behaviour of two sheep 
that strayed that way; each, as it got my scent, sniffed, threw up 
its head and hurried away. I have blown tobacco smoke at a golden 
*No. I. Size 51m.m.x4im.m. Weight 784 grains, 
No. II. a BB ce Req? ae a 785 
No. Il). ,, 53, X42... ms 843 
