Page:The peregrine falcon at the eyrie (IA cu31924084757206).pdf/64

 44 watching his chance, got hold of it and sat down at once with it under his talons, holding it firmly while he tore at it. His sister also tore at it, and once or twice tried to pull it away from him and failed. Later on he stood up and in a careless moment she got it from him. Having lost the leg he picked up a dried piece of mallow stem and just swallowed it in time to prevent the first sister from taking, it, so she watched her sister, and finally got the leg from her and shuffled off behind a rock with it. There was no fighting or screaming in all this; they just grabbed it in an absent-minded way and lost it with as little care. I noticed to-day that one young female stood upon her talons and tried to walk, but fell over. The Tiercel repeatedly called for food between 10.45 and 11.45. The young settled down to sleep, but roused up and whimpered whenever they heard his cries. Something has evidently gone wrong with the feeding, and although I saw both birds after G. A. Booth heard the shots, some other shot elsewhere may have been successful. 12.57 pm.: The young are echoing the Tiercel's cries for food. When whimpering softly their cry is easily distinguished, but when loud is exactly like the adult's. At 1.40 p.m, the young will have been without food for exactly six hours. At 1.15 the Tiercel had been calling continuously for fifteen minutes, sometimes ten calls in a series, and always echoed by the young. If the Falcon is dead it will be interesting to see if the Tiercel does any hunting. At 1.20 I can hear a rock pipit flying about in alarm. I cannot hear the Tiercel's wings, but he may be hunting as he has stopped calling. At 1.30 p.m, he arrived with a whole unplucked puffin. They were simply ravenous, and pressed on him so that he was driven with his back to the wall. Becoming cramped for room he dragged the puffin through the crowd into the right corner of the eyrie. At the beginning of this meal, which lasted twenty-six minutes, he ate several mouthfuls himself, disregarding their convulsive grabs and cries. Once he picked the bird up in his beak as if to leave, but it was only to get more room in the middle of the eyrie. Presently a young female retired hors de combat to the mallow leaves, but still whimpering. She, however, came back to the scramble in a few minutes, and her place by the mallow leaves was taken by a young male, but as his crop seemed by no means full I was not