Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/538

462 intervals. Judging, however, from the fact that it occupied itself all day in sheltering the fledglings in the nest, I am inclined to the belief that the mornings were generally selected by the mother as the feeding-time, and sometimes, though not often, during the afternoon. Now and again it was my custom to place a piece of meat on the window-sill, which the parent bird would carry to its nest, and make a meal of, not forgetting its progeny. In order to find out how it would behave when subject to terrorism while in its nest, I attempted on one or two occasions to frighten it with a stick, but, nothing daunted, it immediately assumed a threatening attitude, and commenced a series of assaults on the offensive object with a ferocity born of an instinctive resolve to defend the little brood and. itself to the utmost. If I persisted in my efforts at intimidation, it would fly away, but only to return immediately and renew its formidable defence. On the withdrawal of the stick it would resume its peaceful avocation in the nest.

On the 21st February I found the younger fledgling dead in the nest. It was quite flattened out, a circumstance indicating that the mother must either have trampled it to death by accident, or sat upon it too heavily. The carcase was intact, but on the fourth day after the occurrence there was nothing left but a few fragments scattered about; the mother, apparently knowing that the bird was dead, had made a meal of it.

The nest itself now was more or less a mass of bones, causing it to emit a most obnoxious smell, and this offal doubtless formed the daily collection of food.

The other fledgling was growing apace, and its permanent feathers were now beginning to appear. It could stand erect and move about, though in a languid way, in the nest. The male bird continued keeping his accustomed watch on the terrace, while the female devoted her attention towards rearing the young, and bringing in the daily supply of food. I was particularly struck with this division and assignment of duties, conforming doubtless with some hidden rule which finds its analogy in the sphere of human relations.

The development of the young bird was gradual. As the days succeeded each other, and it became stronger and larger in stature, it would walk along the narrow edge of wall, ever and