32<t -• Remarks on Falco cyaneus andpygnrgus, 



duced me to believe that the nest was near at hand ; but it 

 was not without two hours strict attention to the actions of 

 the parent birds, that I discovered a single young one on the 

 ground j this appeared to be too small to voluntarily leave 

 the nest, which was probably within a few feet, but which, 

 from the almost impenetrable thickness of the surrounding 

 furze, I was not successful in discovering. 



Oh the 17th my researches were renewed, and after three 

 hours watching the motions of another pair, I discovered the 

 nest with three young; it was placed amongst the dead 

 branches of the thickest furze, about two feet from the 

 ground, slightly fastened between the upright or main stems, 

 not in a fork. 



On the same day, close to where T found the single young 

 bird, two were observed to be busied, carrying materials for 

 building; and by concealing myself in the bushes, I soon 

 discovered the place of nidification, by the continued returns 

 of the birds with something in their bills, for making their 

 nest; and, upon examination, I found it was just begun. 

 Extraordinary as it may appear, there is great reason to be- 

 lieve that this was the same pair from which I had the day 

 before taken the single young one. Is it not possible that 

 the inclination of the parent birds to propagate again, was 

 the cause of the young leaving the nest prematurely, in de- 

 fect of a sufficient supply of food, and that the other young 

 perished ? A circumstance so singular can no more be de- 

 nied than positively asserted; but as I could never' observe 

 more than one pair near the place, there is reason to believe, 

 though extraordinary, that it was really the case, and that 

 they actually began a new nest the day after they were de- 

 prived of the only surviving young. 



The nest appeared to be finished on the 19th, but it pos- 

 sessed only one egg on the 21st in the afternoon,, and on 

 the 26th it contained four, when the nest and eggs were 

 secured. 



This nest was placed near the top of the furze, in the 

 thickest part, about four feet from the ground, but so well 

 concealed that, although the birds were repeatedly seen to 

 fly in with building materials in their bills, it was with the 



greatest 



