62 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



a subsequent crying which I hear may well be his. But at 6.9, 

 only, I see her back on the nest and feeding the young, she 

 having taken me by surprise. Through the glasses I have a 

 very good view of her eviscerating the body of some creature, 

 which an adhering feather, here and there, soon shows to be a 

 bird. But these feathers are so occasional that it must certainly 

 have been plucked, and for the mother not only to have caught 

 but to have plucked a bird in something less than four minutes 

 from leaving the nest does not seem probable. I have no doubt 

 but that the male, as on previous occasions, has brought it for 

 her. At 6.16 the feeding is over, and the bird, suddenly diving 

 from the ledge, makes some beautiful upward and downward 

 darts, curves, and circlings, apparently in pure joy of the 

 motion — a well-earned recreation she seems to consider it, after 

 the long and faithful performance of her parental duties. Yet, 

 at 6.18, only, she flies in, again, and broods the chicks. 



I now leave the tent, and return to it, again, at 8.30, to find 

 the female bird still on the nest — to be sure she may have left 

 it during the interval. At 8.50 there is the cry of the male, and, 

 in an instant, she is off. I cannot follow her far, nor detect the 

 meeting, though I still hear the cries. At 8.55 the female returns 

 with a dead bird in her claws, which she lifts, with her beak, 

 into the nest, holding it by the nape of the neck, so that it 

 depends in a very corpse-like manner. Then, with repeated 

 picks down and pulls up again, she feeds the chicks, and it is 

 easy for me to see the process of disembowelment — a somewhat 

 ghastly spectacle. Here, too, the feathers are not much in 

 evidence, and must have been removed to a considerable extent. 

 This fierce bird, but tender mother, feeds her chicks liberally, 

 and, as usual, makes her own meal with theirs, swallowing a 

 great mass at the last. She still gives them small pieces, 

 though occasionally a bigger bit is accorded. Then suddenly, 

 at 9.6, she sinks from the ledge, takes her usual little flight of a 

 minute or two, returns, and broods the chicks. I then go to bed. 



June 23r<l — The female is on the nest when I look, at a little 

 past 7. She seems completely to cover up all her four chicks, 

 and the feathers of the lower part of her body are often a good 

 deal puffed out beyond the usual contour-lines. At 8.36 the nest 

 is all at once empty (except for the chicks) when I look, my eye 



