1 9 1 3" x 9 * 4-] A Pair of Long-Eared Otvls. 79 



week before the first egg was laid. In all our observations of 

 the behaviour of the two birds, we had never seen any carriage 

 of building material, and, judging from the condition of the 

 nest, none had been carried since our last investigation of its 

 contents. The main fact for us was that the female had now 

 taken possession of the nest — all her scruples, all her 

 queasiness had vanished. For good or ill the crucial step 

 had been taken, and the importance of her action was manifest 

 in the behaviour of the two birds that same evening. 



When we disturbed the female from the nest in the fore- 

 noon, she had taken refuge among the young firs, and some 

 time after the male began to call she flew into the Corner 

 from that direction and settled on a tree near her mate. The 

 latter immediately took wing and alighted on a branch near 

 the nest, and here for the first time in a long six weeks we saw 

 him hesitate. He sat in full view of us, turning his head from 

 side to side, first to the nest and then to his mate, just as we 

 had seen the female do on a former occasion. We could 

 imagine his dilemma. For weeks he had toiled to bring his 

 mate to the point of decision, night after night he had worked 

 in the old Crow nest, and that morning, perhaps just before 

 he retired, success had crowned his efforts — his mate had 

 begun to sit in the nest, and by that token made it hers, her 

 sacred property into which he might no longer venture as of 

 old. And yet now he finds the nest abandoned, his mate 

 roosting Heaven knows where ! He knows nothing of the 

 human busybodies who had disturbed her that morning, so 

 what does her conduct mean ? Has he to begin his mighty 

 task all over again, or, understanding so little of the reasons 

 for his mate's absence, will there be fearful consequences if he 

 visits the nest at this juncture ? He moved two or three 

 trees nearer the nest and hesitated again. Would that draw 

 her ? he seemed to ask the world at lame as he swung his big 

 head round towards the female. She made no sign, and he 

 plunged into the nest. He was always a trifle headlong in his 

 method of entering the nest, but I think he was even more 

 headlong than usual — almost reckless — that night. He com- 

 menced his old spinning tactics, but they stopped abruptly 

 with the arrival of the female on the edge of the nest, and he 

 decamped hurriedly. The female debated a moment on the 



VOL. VII. F 



