As on April 7th there was one egg in the eyrie and on the 11th there were four, it may be assumed that an egg is laid daily till the clutch is complete. On May r4th the eggs were photographed, and showed no signs of chipping. Rough weather prevented our landing till May 18th, when we found four chicks. This gives roughly an incubation period of five weeks, which is in accordance with our notes of the two previous years. I may remark that I find works on ornithology singularly reticent over the period of incubation of many birds. The Falcon flew off as we approached the eyrie, and immediately started calling the alarm as she circled overhead. Her harsh cry seemed to me to be more like "aitch, aitch, aitch" than the "kek, kek, kek" of the books. I never could tell them apart when flying, but when together it is plain that the Tiercel is smaller and his alarm note different and rather higher in pitch. Their flight consisted of a series of rather laboured beats followed by glides on outspread wings. The young formed a round heap like a pancake raised in the middle. Before we disturbed them there was only one head visible. They lay with their heads towards the middle and their eyes closed. When separated they opened their weak-looking eyes languidly; but one of them snapped and bit at our fingers. Already it was possible to distinguish two males by their smaller size; these were in the centre of the heap, and underneath. It would be interesting to know if, in a clutch of four eggs, there is any difference in size. From the early appearance of this sexual difference in the chicks I should think it quite possible. The down on the chicks was thin, so that they looked a pinkish white. The general appearance of the young gives a curious suggestion of extreme old age. We found a dried turtle-dove's head in the eyrie and a corncrake's as well as the remains of a small bird whose few remaining features suggested a ringed plover but that the legs were black. We erected the shed on its trestles, lashing it to the rocks above by ropes fastened to a ring-bolt at each corner of the shed, keeping the young well covered up during our proceedings, which were long, toilsome and so thirst-producing that we collared most of the boatman's private stock of beer. On May 19th it was too rough to land, but on the 20th I moved in with my furniture a mattress, two pillows and a Jaeger three-blanket sleeping bag, as well as a Thermos of hot tea for the early morning, and plenty of provisions wrapped up in butter-paper and packed in a tin box, as I believe in doing things comfortably. I was rather doubtful about the wisdom of erecting the shed so soon after hatching, but trusted to the parents being accustomed to interference. There was, however, no sign of the old birds on landing. Halfway up there was-still no sign, and six greater black-backs, sailing overhead, looked ominous; but just as we were getting to the eyrie the Falcon shot out, screaming. This year the inside of the shed had been painted black in aid of concealment, and at King's suggestion we made use of ladies' veils to fill up the gaps in the look-out slit, and found it better than the fishing-net we had been using. My friends left me at 12.40 p.m., and fifteen minutes later the Falcon alighted silently on rock B, and after peering round anxiously, dropped out of sight behind it, from which she emerged a little later, and walked in a stooping attitude to the young and covered them. In settling down she tucked them in under her with her beak. As I was particularly anxious not to scare her, I waited twenty minutes before I made an exposure. She seemed 'quite at her ease, brooding the young and at the same time turning her head sharply in all directions as she watched what was happening to seawards. When I let off the focal-plane shutter she ran off, crouching, and flew away. She came back in five minutes, and after giving her another fifteen to settle down again, I ventured another exposure. This time she only turned her head sharply at the report, but afterwards the clicking, as I cautiously wound the shutter, made her more and more uneasy, until at last she got up and flew away. However, I managed to get four of her before 3 p.m. KEY TO THE ROCKS.
KEY TO THE ROCKS.
Tiercel with food for young three weeks old. A and B, arrival rocks; C, departure and preening rock; E, eyrie.
On one occasion on her return she alighted on rock C, which was only five feet from the camera. On another occasion she presented a fine sight. Pitching on the top of the rock behind the eyrie, she clambered down its almost vertical face with both wings extended. She was, however, very nervous, and on one occasion departed, owing to a single slight cough on my part. About fifteen minutes after her final departure the Tiercel arrived with a mangled thrush. The young immediately came to life and squatted in a ring as he held the quarry under his talons and tore bits of it out with his beak; they whimpered, and each convulsively raised its open beak in the hope of being chosen for the red morsel he held lightly in the tip of his beak. Generally the pieces, which he evenly distributed, were small; but I was surprised to see what enormous mouthfuls of flesh and feathers they at times managed, with a little struggling, to swallow. He occasionally looked in my direction while I rapidly exposed three plates on the scene, and did not seem at all scared by the unavoidable noises I made. However, he must have been so, as he left after the third exposure. Nevertheless, he returned in a few minutes and continued the meal, while I made five more exposures. He gave several startling "yapps" towards the end of the meal, which I knew of old meant that the young were getting slow in taking their bits; one young female struggled some time with a leg she tried to swallow. She tried hard, but the claws remained an inch outside her beak. The Tiercel rapidly swallowed the remnants and proceeded to brood the young. As he sat quite still I put the focal-plane shutter out of action, and, taking the back of the camera out, fixed the silent studio shutter behind the lens and took two of him with it. The tube leaked; but I had previously found out that a full squeeze of the ball gave with the leak exactly a half-second exposure. Although he frequently turned his head, each movement was generally followed by a second or more, during which he was quite still, so I fired directly after he had moved his head. These extremely rapid head-movements of the Peregrine do not look so; but I had previously found to my cost that if they coincide with the exposure, not even 1-100sec, will save the image from distortion. My subsequent experience made me sorry that I had not used this shutter on the Falcon. Shortly after my last exposure the light grew very bad and heavy showers fell. About 6.30 p.m. he began whimpering and looking up skywards. Again, shortly before 7 p.m., when the clouds broke and the setting sun began to stream in through the front of the shed, he looked up and yelped impatiently at the Falcon soaring overhead. He waited a few minutes and then got off the young carefully and flew away. Then I did a very foolish thing. As the sun was coming in through a large gap
THE YOUNG BIRDS WHEN TWO DAYS OLD.
to the left, which only had a layer of net over it, and so was brilliantly illuminating the inside of the shed, I thoughtlessly took advantage of the Tiercel's absence to pin a piece of mackintosh over the gap, only to find the Falcon standing on B, which was six feet off. She was staring at me in alarm, and although I immediately "froze" and half-closed my eyes, the mischief was done, and after jerking her head in my direction three or four times, she flew off, screaming the alarm. There was a good deal of calling between them after this, and the young began to whimper, apparently from cold. Finally, at 7.30 p.m., I was disappointed when the Tiercel came and brooded them for the night.
Next morning I heard the Tiercel call soon after 3 a.m., and raising my head from the pillows, saw him looking skywards as he sat brooding the young. About 4 a.m, he was calling again. This time he flew off, but returned in a few minutes to brood. The same occurred at 5 a.m., and hearing the young whimpering after his return, I looked out and found he was feeding them off a thrush. The second meal started at 5.50 a.m, and lasted till 6.5; apparently the quarry was a blackbird. In the course of this meal they swallowed practically all the feathers except the flight and tail feathers. He gave one female the ramp, and when he found her in difficulties, he took it back and pulled the tail-feathers out for her. When he got to the intestines he snipped off pieces three or four inches long, and occasionally there was a tug-of-war if the piece was not swallowed in time to prevent another youngster seizing the free end. When, towards the end of the meal, the young became inattentive, he did a good deal of yapping, as usual. During this meal, at 6 a.m., one of the young females had a leg given to her, and during the rest of the meal she made convulsive gulps in her efforts to swallow it, but the claws and about an inch of the leg remained outside. The Tiercel again swallowed the remnants, including the other leg, and then covered the young, without paying any attention to the young female with the protruding claw. He dozed at intervals, and in closing his eyes I noticed that the lower lid, yellow in colour, rose slowly and covered the eye. He never dozed for more than a few seconds at a time, even when not disturbed by the youngsters moving under him. This often happened, the chief offender being the female with the claws. She on several occasions wriggled her head out from under his breast. The last time I saw her do this was at 6.35 a.m., when the claws were still protruding. At 7 a.m. I tested the light at the back door, and, finding it sufficiently good, took a series of him with the studio shutter. Whenever he dozed for more than fifteen seconds, his head began to droop on his chest. Several times he sat there with his seaward-eye open and his landward-eye closed;
but in the plate that ought to show this he apparently closed his eye just as I exposed. After dozing, he partly preened himself while brooding the young. He sneezed four or five times and also yawned. Shortly after 8 a.m, he yelped and looked up as if watching the Falcon overhead, then.stepped off the young and, jumping on to C, flew off. There then followed a good deal of yelping out of sight, and the young began to stir and whimper, the nearest female gaping; I saw the claws for the last time; this time inside her mouth.
At 8.8 a.m, the Tiercel brought a small bird, unidentified, and fed them. The young female with the claws stood in the back row most of the time and did not seem hungry. I saw her get a lump once, but could not be sure of more. If any little bits dropped during a meal, the Tiercel carefully picked them up and presented them again. The males generally got the smallest bits, and one of them was nearly always in front of the others. I saw one young male this time get four helpings in succession. One of the young females got a leg given to her and the Tiercel swallowed the other. This meal lasted from 8.8 to 8.20 a.m., after which he brooded them and it began to drizzle. At 8.40 a.m. I heard the Tiercel yapping, and, looking out, found him engaged in feeding. As what he was using looked like scraps, and I had not heard him or the Falcon give the food cry, I concluded it was the remainder of the 8.8 a.m, meal. He swallowed the last pieces himself, including a leg. As this would make the quarry three-legged, I expect the young female must have disgorged hers while she was being brooded. This feed only lasted two or three minutes. I had a bad bout of coughing just about this time owing to some tobacco smoke going the wrong way; but although he evidently heard me, cocking his head on one side and looking puzzled, he was not in any way upset, for which I was sincerely grateful. At 9 a.m, it stopped raining, but there was no sun. At 9.46 he got off the young, jumped on to C and flew off. I heard him wailing in the distance; it sounds exactly like the hungry whimper of the full-fledged young—a long-drawn "way-ee," and is the food cry. Three minutes later I heard his wings close as he dropped into the eyrie with a plucked and partly-skinned puffin. I identified it by
a leg, but saw no head. While tearing it up with his beak I could hear its bones crack and snap. Occasionally, when the lump that came away was unusually large, he swallowed it himself, as also happened when it consisted of a large piece of skin or one of the long bones. The puffin afforded more than the young required, and the Tiercel ate steadily himself for the last two or-three minutes and, leaving the carcase unfinished, settled down to brood the young, the meal having lasted sixteen minutes. He had a job to spread himself over them, and as he sat, one or more showed in front. As at 10.30 a.m, the light had considerably improved,.I took one of him at 1-25sec., there being too much movement to make the studio shutter safe, as when he was not moving his head, one of the "young would be sure to be wriggling. With the fifteen-inch lens, at a distance of eight feet his image measured two inches on the screen. At 11 a.m, he looked skywards, hopped on to C and flew round, giving the food cry, but flew down again in a few minutes without any. About 11.30 he came off the young and, jumping on to C, began to preen himself. After a little consideration I risked scaring him, so loosened the camera screw and slowly turned the camera on to him. I found, however, that the shelf was tilted too far backward for this position, so that only the lower half of his body was on the screen. Then I found the floor of the shed littered with spare laths and other things requiring noiseless removal before the shelf-frame could swing forward into a horizontal position. When all was free I found that the bar that fixed the frame in the rack had swelled, and it required some time to get it out. Then, when I had noiselessly swung the shelf forward and fixed it, I found, on focussing, that there was a green blur all over him, which, on removing the focussing screen, resolved itself into a piece of weed dangling in front of the lens. Again I had to risk his displeasure. Putting on my gloves, I cautiously protruded the scissors and snipped the weed off. He merely stopped preening and watched the proceedings with a quizzical expression. After that it was all plain sailing, and feeling that the chance of photographing the Tiercel at a distance of five feet was not an every-day occurrence, I rapidly exposed my last seven plates on him, only waiting once or twice to make sure of the focus. As he did not seem to mind, I wasted no time in being THE TIERCEL STRETCHING HIMSELF.
The Tiercel Stretching Himself.
noiseless. As I had now used twenty-four plates, I was sorry I had not brought more, but never having been able to use more than six previously, I thought I had brought ample. The Tiercel finished by stretching his wings, first his left, after which he turned to look at the young, then the right, and then he hopped down and brooded them till 12.15 p.m., when he flew off, calling for food. At 12.30 I heard his wings flap and saw him alight on B. He was wet and draggled, as if after a bath. Then he jumped down and brooded the young. About 12.45 he jumped on to A, calling the food cry, and flew off. From 1 p.m, to 1.30 the Falcon seemed to be trying to make up her mind to return to the eyrie. As I had no plates, I sat 'and watched, and so there were no signs of life in the shed to interfere with the proceedings. She several times flew into the eyrie and then jumped on to either B or A, scowling and thrusting her head forward in sudden jerks, peered in all directions and then flew off, crying the alarm. The Tiercel was all the time calling to her and apparently flying from rock to rock. It was neither the alarm nor the food cry, and as I suppose that as these two easily-learned cries do not comprise the whole of their language, it was presumably a conversation. Once when she was standing in the eyrie, with her back to the youngsters, and peering anxiously in all directions, he came down with a thump on to the roof of the shed and talked to her as if assuring her of her perfect safety, while I kept very still in case any unfortunate movement might alarm my gallant ally. After a few minutes I could breathe more freely, as he jumped down on to C and continued his speech.
Then she broke her gloomy silence, and seemed to be giving him a bit of her mind. She was evidently in a towering rage, and both together were making the most extraordinary sounds. She hissed and clucked and he yelped and yapped. At one time she stood there like a fury, spitting and snarling at him, her scowling head lowered, and with all her neck feathers bristling up she took half a step forward as if for two pins she would kill him where he stood. Then both flew off. The Tiercel returned in about ten minutes, and stood by the young in the eyrie, but paid no attention to them. He looked annoyed: and disappointed. If some may
Caught While Completing His Toilet.
think all this rather far-fetched I recommend them to watch such wild birds at close quarters. I do not mean the broken-spirited wretches one sees in zoos. Then he raised his wings and hopped on to C, and preened himself for twenty-two minutes in strong sunshine. I evidently missed seeing a lot while I was getting the shelf straight, but, fortunately. King on a subsequent occasion filled in the gaps. The Tiercel shook and fluffed himself out and buried his head among his breast feathers, occasionally cocking his head round, and with a child-like expression, partly due to his half-closed eyes, he called to the Falcon for food. Then he sneezed two or three times, scratched his nose with one claw, and lifted each talon in tum with outspread toes, peeling bits off them with his beak. Then he brought both feet down and raised his wings high above his head, looking at me with a "what-do-you-think-ofthis?" expression. Then for a long time he stood on one foot, generally the right, with the other nearly hidden among his breast feathers, and dozed. Then as the young began to whimper he jumped down and brooded them with his back turned to me.
About 2.20 p.m, the Falcon gave the alarm, and the Tiercel flew off, but returned in a few minutes, pitching on A, and walking down it to the eyrie, where he resumed brooding. At 3.5 p.m, the Falcon called the alarm, and the Tiercel flew off; the alarm soon ceased, and the Falcon came down on to A and stood there a short time. She is not nearly so yellow about the breast as he is. His is quite creamy, whereas hers is an ashen white. The Tiercel kept calling to her, but she soon flew away, and he returned to resume his brooding till 3.30, when she again called the alarm, and he, flying off, joined her in calling it, and a few minutes' later the arrival of my friends brought my watch to an end.
Jasper Atkinson took the next watch, from May 21st to May 22nd, and his observations are pretty well a repetition of what I have described. C. J. King took the watch from May 22nd to May 23rd, and he records that the Tiercel has difficulty in covering young when brooding, owing to their rapid growth. At a meal at 4.50 p.m., when the Tiercel brought a blackbird, he gave one youngster a whole leg with the foot and claws, and when it could not swallow the foot he snipped the protruding part off with his WITH A "WHAT-DO-YOU-THINK-OF-THIS?" EXPRESSION.
With a "What-Do-You-Think-Of-This?" Expression.
beak. The same kind of thing happened later on with a wing; in this case he removed the feathered end with one stroke of his talons. King was interested to see what enormous lumps the youngsters managed to swallow, and how when one had too large a piece another tried to take it from him, when a tussle ensued.
The next day, at a meal one young bird in trying to swallow a leg could not get the foot down, and hit it off just above the claws, showing the power of the beak even at this early age.
Nothing particularly fresh occurred during the short watch kept by F. H. Edmondson, from 12.55 to 5.25 p.m, on May 23rd, except that after the Falcon had started the alarm after the relief party had landed, the Tiercel showed his daring by bringing a thrush, with which he fed the young hurriedly until within a few moments of the party's arrival.
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