Page:The peregrine falcon at the eyrie (IA cu31924084757206).pdf/48

 28 there ensue the usual food cries between them. I do not catch sight of her, but he brings in an adult intact female blackbird and tears it up for the young, commencing with its skull, which he breaks open and distributes. He took nearly fifteen minutes in tearing the bird up, and towards the end of the meal gave two or three of his scolding " yacks" to hurry the young. Although partly used to it, the sharpness and sudden harshness of this cry always startled me. The young, however, never appeared to be alarmed by it; it merely seemed to encourage them to take the proffered bit. The Tiercel then flew away for a minute or two, leaving the young still noisy, and on his return he brooded them. He continued brooding till 7.50 a.m., and then moved on to C. Several of the blackbird's feathers were sticking to his talons. He cleared them off with his beak, holding up one foot at a time for the purpose, and then dozed, but always with one eye ready to espy the Falcon if she should appear. He stayed on C until 8.40 a.m., often half asleep, but generally with his weather eye on the sky or his lee eye on the shed, during which time I had breakfast. He appears to know perfectly well that there is something alive inside the shed, and is but little interested what it is so long as it does not hurt him or his. He merely gives a casual glance when I cough, strike a match or make any other noise, and watches me cautiously arranging the curtains in order to train the camera on to him, although only standing five feet away from it, and when I am quite ready—he closes his eyes. At 8.40 a.m, some oyster-catchers flew past, calling shrilly; this interested him and woke him up. He then flew off, but, I fancy, only to the top of the island. He seems to be a regular stay-at-home old housekeeper. The sun is out now, and the bluebottles are busy in the dirty eyrie, and are pestering the young. The latter are still sleeping in a heap; they seem chiefly to eat and sleep. One of the larger young, after gaping hard and making a "chipping" noise, has just thrown up a dark pellet or casting of undigested feathers and deposited it on the back of one of the others! At 9.5 a.m, the Tiercel came down to the eyrie without food and tried to tempt the youngsters with feathers and scraps of the last blackbird, and " yacked" when they would not take them readily. He then tried to brood them, but as it was