310 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



moment longer — fear held no place in either of those tiny bold 

 bosoms. For these reasons, I do not believe that, from first to 

 last, either of the pair varied their nesting habits by one jot 

 or one tittle ; the Sparrow-Hawks become, here, a valuable 

 criterion. 



At 3.10 p.m. the male flies into the gorge again, uttering his 

 cry, and the female, with the same note, flies out to him. 

 Getting, as quickly as I can, to the tent's mouth, I see them 

 come down upon the mountain- side at some dozen or twenty 

 paces from one another. The female has nothing in her claws 

 that I can see, and there is no sign of her eating. I shortly lose 

 them both, but, in a very few minutes, the male flies on to the 

 ledge, and after standing for a moment or two where he alighted 

 — a very handsome little bird in the sunlight, his colouring 

 much warmer, as his size is much less thau the female's — 

 takes his place upon the nest. Hardly has he been there two 

 minutes, however, when his wife returns, he at once flies off 

 again, and she takes her accustomed place. This, with the fore- 

 going, is sufficient, I think, to show that incubation is, to some 

 extent, at least, and during some period, shared between the 

 sexes. But the eggs now are probably near to being hatched, 

 and it seems as if the female bird could hardly permit herself 

 to be away from them for more than a few minutes. 



4.7 p.m. — The male flies into the gorge again, and the 

 female goes off the nest to him. He settles on a grassy ledge of 

 the cliffs that wall the chasm, and sbe upon an outstanding 

 point of them, but nothing is brought her, and there is no 

 meeting. Then, in a minute, she rises and flies outward from 

 the gorge ; I lose her, and just afterwards, at 4.9, the male takes 

 his place upon the eggs, and remains there till 4.35. During 

 this time I notice him, more than once, make the same kind of 

 movements on the eggs as the female has so often done, but not 

 quite so pronounced as hers usually (but not always) are. At 

 4.35, as I am steadily watching the sitting male, through the 

 glasses, the female comes down on the edge of the nesting-ledge, 

 on which he rises and comes off the nest, and she walks along 

 the ledge and goes onto it, with the curious little fun, before 

 described, just as he flies off. Neither bird utters any cry or 

 sound that I can hear. The difference both in size and colora- 



