YOUNG BIRDS IN THE NURSERY 95 



eagle contains some most interesting facts in regard to 

 the eaglet which he had the good fortune to keep under 

 observation during so many weeks. This bird began to 

 play, and perforce by itself, when about six weeks old. 

 After a meal one day " the eaglet walked round the edge 

 of the nest and began to play. He behaved exactly like 

 a child thrown upon its own resources for amusement 

 and compelled to fall back on any handy article as a toy. 

 Small pieces of heather in this case served his purpose, 

 and he appeared to enjoy lifting them from the ground 

 and throwing them down again. He also picked pieces 

 of moss from the rocks, and only desisted from this 

 occupation after having completely stripped the walls of 

 his eyrie. He then began to make the most comical 

 grimaces, turning his head sideways and upwards at the 

 same time. His manoeuvres were so diverting that I 

 had much difficulty in restraining myself from laughing, 

 and a chuckle which escaped me involuntarily on one 

 occasion caused him to stiffen momentarily into an attitude 

 of attention." These games were apparently repeated 

 daily during the next six weeks — until, indeed, he took 

 his first flight and vanished, after the fashion we have 

 already described. 



Mr. H. Eliot Howard, in his remarkable work on the 

 British Warblers, remarks that young sedge-warblers, 

 just after leaving the nest, are very playful, "... their 

 games sometimes taking the form of a tilting match. 

 Three take part ; two sit on convenient twigs facing one 

 another, and the third, from his central position, might 

 almost be called an umpire. Numbers one and two then 

 lower their heads, each in anticipation of the other moving ; 

 one of them — caU him number one — then springs into the 

 air, and darts at number two ; number two dodges and 



