Page:The peregrine falcon at the eyrie (IA cu31924084757206).pdf/54

 22 minutes. The young huddled together after this as if for warmth. The down is nearly fully developed now, and they keep their eyes open more. The earholes are still prominent, and when moving in the eyrie they hobble about on their tarsi, not on their talons. There has been no brooding worth mentioning to-day, and he cannot cover them when he tries. About 9 p.m., while changing plates, I heard the Tiercel flop down, and when I looked out, at 9.10, he was standing on B, from which he moved into the eyrie later on. The last I saw of him-he was standing close to the young, with his feathers ruffled out.

Saturday. May 25th—When I awoke and looked out at 4.20 he was standing on C. The first feed was at 4.40 a.m., an unplucked thrush; this lasted them, ten minutes. Afterwards the Tiercel preened on C for a few minutes, and then, as the young whimpered, he got down and tried to brood them. As he sits 'he covers about a third of the family circle. One young female whimpered so persistently that at last he got up and brooded her by herself. The second meal, at 5.45 a.m., off a mangled thrush, lasted thirteen minutes. During this meal he pulled off and offered a female all the primaries of one wing, but she dropped them. Then he gave them all a mouthful of breast feathers in turn. About 8 a.m, he was calling for food for quite ten minutes. At 9.20 he alighted on B with a puffin in his beak. He put it under his talons and looked round. Then he picked it up in his beak again and jumped down into the eyrie. About midday one male and female were very lively, raising themselves and, bobbing their heads forward, peering and scowling like adults. The sixth feed was a puffin, at 3.20 p.m:, in the middle of which the Falcon started the alarm, and the Tiercel immediately began to feed desperately against time, as Booth describes. He shot out of the eyrie- only a few seconds before the relief party appeared.

In Atkinson's watch, from May 25th to May 26th, the only fresh incidents recorded were a meal off a pigeon, early in the morning, which lasted twenty-seven minutes, and when the young were gorged, the Tiercel had a good meal himself. After the meal he carried off the remains. After another meal he stood on B for seventy-five minutes, during the whole of which time he had