n8 Taylor: The Habits of the Merlin. 
as possible, and covered it over with heather. At about 9 a.m., 
one morning I took up my quarters, and was soon interested in 
a local guide book, when she flew low over the nest, kek-keking. 
Afterwards this was always my signal to clear decks for action 
as she invariably flew low over the nest before feeding, and if 
the young were enthusiastic in their response she would come 
and feed them within a couple of minutes — if, however, they 
appeared sluggish and sleepy, she would delay the meal. 
Up to this time the young had been asleep in a bundle, 
looking like a bunch of cotton wadding, and it seemed curious 
that a note, to my ear precisely like the one she had uttered 
in alarm, should make the young squat in the one case and so 
keenly agitated in the other. A moment later she flew down to 
the nest, and the young scrambled towards her. At this stage, 
as I could not see her very conveniently, I pressed back the 
side of the look-out hole with the tip of my finger, and the 
next moment there was a whirr of wings as she precipitously 
left the nest screaming, much to the disappointment of the 
young, who all followed her disappearing form with their 
eyes, their grave concern and disappointment being very 
evident. The average number of visits per day was six, 
and usually there were none between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., 
which coincided with previous experience. 
After about half an hour she returned with a plucked bird 
which I believe she had received from the male. Qne could 
rarely determine the species except by examination of the 
remains left in the nest, usually heads, wings, and legs. This 
time I kept very quiet but she was cautious and kept as far 
from the tent as she possibly could all that day, being generally 
completely concealed from the camera by the heather. Once 
she had started feeding the young they made such a noise 
that any movements of mine were unheard and by not com- 
mencing to move until this noise commenced I found I could 
change plates and set shutters with impunity. However, 
she would not abide any movement and would detect immedi- 
ately the least motion of the tent cloth caused from inside. 
She fed the young with the same care and tenderness that I 
had noticed at other nests, tearing her prey, usually a thrush, 
into minute pieces, and dealing them out in turn, except in the 
case of another rather small youngster. Even the insides were 
divided up. only the bones of the sternum, head, legs and 
wings remaining, the bones of the breast girdle usually intact. 
I never saw her tidy up the nest at all, although I knew she did 
so, but Mr. Grabham, who spent some time in my tent, saw her 
go round the nest collecting remains of birds, which she removed. 
The nest proper is always surrounded by a wide circle of ex- 
creta, and as it becomes unsanitary the young move to a fresh 
spot. This always happens as far as my observations go. 
Naturalist, 
