190 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
coming an hungered, the little one grew restless 
beneath the sheltering feathers, poking out his 
small head and evincing unmistakable signs of a 
desire for dinner. If two of the three parents 
happened to be away, no notice was taken of his 
wishes by the mothering bird, and then often 
he would quit his covert and venture forth for a 
desperate ramble by himself on the cliff edge. 
If a second parent was about the nest standing 
sentinel, he would then attempt to seduce it. On 
no occasion, however, did I see success attend 
these manoeuvres. I am, in fact, convinced that 
he was never fed except by the combined action 
of the three parents. 
Not one of the triple alliance ever thought of 
cornering the chick. It was evident that each 
bird desired the presence of the other two. Maybe 
in great degree this pleasure was of an altruistic 
kind, positively a pleasure in each other’s pleasure. 
‘Negatively I feel sure, lacking one of the party— 
could such an event have happened—each of the 
other two birds would have experienced a sense 
of disillusion, disappointment, dissatisfaction. 
When, however, all three old birds were assembled, 
the chick seemed to know that feeding could no 
longer be properly postponed. His coaxing and 
pestering became more and more persistent. At 
last one of the parents—propinquity seemed to 
decide the choice—would slowly advance to the 
