ORNITHOLOGICAL OBSERVATION IN ICELAND. 171 



surrendered it. I could not pick the female up, again, with the 

 glasses after she had alighted, but she soon flew up and was 

 back at the nest at 9.14, with another lump of entrails, with 

 which she fed the chicks. 



At about 10.5 a.m. the female goes off the nest and flies to a 

 promontory of the ravine side opposite her home-rock, and there 

 preens herself very thoroughly for some minutes. She then flies 

 further down the slope of the mountain, and such a speck is she, 

 amidst the waste of moss and vast debris of lava fragments, that 

 I cannot find her with the glasses, and, something having inter- 

 vened, I only see her again at the nest, and feeding the chicks, at 

 10.14. There was no sign of the male, this last time, either by 

 sight or sound. This does not, of course, prove that he had not 

 flown in with booty, as on other occasions, but it hardly seems 

 likely that the female would have preened herself in such a 

 leisurely way before flying to him, had he been the occasion of 

 her leaving the nest. I have established it that she does not 

 always take what is brought in to her at once to the nest, but 

 leaves it, or part of it, on the ground, should it be more than she 

 has present need of, for future occasions. I think it very likely 

 therefore that she, this time, procured something thus left or 

 deposited. She did not, however, go down amongst the black 

 rocks, where she yesterday left something that the male had 

 brought. 



At 10.55 the bird goes off the nest and I take a walk, return- 

 ing and finding her still away (though I cannot, of course, tell 

 how the interim has been occupied) in about an hour's time. 

 She returns and takes her place, again, not bringing anything 

 with her, at 11.25. At 11.32 she is off again, and at 11.40 I 

 catch sight of the pair in coitu. The act was accompanied with 

 the only different cry from that so often noted, which I have yet 

 heard — a sharp, shrill monosyllabic utterance of no fulness or 

 power, differing considerably from what I find it convenient to 

 call the twitter, which is made up of a succession of little squeaks, 

 but equally indicative of vocal poverty. The exigencies of the 

 tent stop all further observation till 12.30 p.m., when I find the 

 female bird on the nest. The sexual activities of these Merlins 

 are thus seen in force, even in the midst of family cares ; and 

 although it must be now quite unnecessary, or even impracti- 



