Page:The peregrine falcon at the eyrie (IA cu31924084757206).pdf/70

 50 pulling it in, when the Tiercel started the alarm, so I swung the bottle under the shed. The alarm died down in two minutes, and shortly after he returned and resumed feeding them off the puffin. There was a good deal of yapping, and he ate most of it himself. When I last looked ont, at 9.20 p.m., the young were asleep, but the Tiercel was absent.

Friday. May 31st.—Looking out soon after 3 a.m. I saw an old bird standing motionless in the eyrie close to B. At 3.45, on looking out again, I saw it was the Falcon. She had her eyes closed and she had a patch of white on her head which I had not seen before. This, however, is of no use for identification, as these splashes are generally due to excrement from the young. By 4.30, when the Tiercel arrived with a thrush, the Falcon had disappeared. At 6.10 he brought a small bird. It was a very cold morning, and at 7 a.m, it began to rain. At 7.30 it was pouring, and the Tiercel came down, looking anxious. He stood by the young some minutes and then spread himself over them with extended wings and brooded them until the downpour abated, after about half-an-hour. After one or two visits of inspection, he came at 9.20 a.m, and fed them with a thrush. Each youngster was given a couple of mouthfuls of feathers as a start. Their cheeks are beginning to blacken, and a couple of vertical bands of feathers are showing down their backs. Nothing further appered before {nowrap|G. A. Booth}} came. During his watch from May 31st to June 1st the principal events noted were the appearance of two new birds in the menu, in the shape of lark and hedge-sparrow, and that at one of the meals a young female, after standing up on her talons and flapping er wings, got hold of a large lump of flesh and took it into corner and tore it up as she stood with it under her talons, and hen walked across the eyrie, having been on her talons for five and a-half minutes. My next watch, from June 1st to June 2nd, proved unprofitable, owing to bad weather. I note that the youngsters are beginning to stand more on their talons. June 4th was a very hot day, and in landing I put the half-gallon jar of water down carelessly, and it separated into two. So, after shutting me up. Jim kindly went for more water. Soon after 7 p.m, the eyrie