interest, since it affords us an insight into the natural habits and economy o f this destructive though noble
bird ; at the same time it must be admitted that this trait in its character, that o f killing in mere wantonness
or sport, is not commendable. Independently of Ducks, Coots, and Moor-hens, many other birds
fall to the powerful stroke of the Peregrine’s hind claw, such as Grouse, Partridges, Plovers, Pigeons, &c.
When used in falconry, it is flown a t Herons, Crows, and other birds o f equal magnitude ; but as these are
usually victims selected by the falconer, any details respecting its prowess in these cases would be somewhat
out of place in a memoir on its natural history : but I may mention that there is no bird which is more
easily tamed or rendered subservient to the desires of man, nor one that becomes more docile ; for not only
will it, at his will,.pursue the quarry until it becomes a mere speck in the heavens, but from that altitude
will respond to his lure and immediately descend, to be fed, and blinded by its stiff and uncomfortable hood ;
the cravings of its appetite appeased, it sits content on its accustomed block o f wood, or rides with equal
patience on the hand of the falconer or its “ faire ladye.”
The whole structure of the Peregrine is admirably adapted for aerial progression, its powerful pectoral
muscles, unparalleled among birds o f its size, together with its long and pointed wings, enabling it ordinarily
to pass through the air with a rapidity estimated by some writers a t the rate o f 150 miles an hour? but this
rate o f progression is as nothing compared with the impetuosity of its stoop when descending upon its
quarry. Wonderful indeed is the rapidity with which this winged thunderbolt descends from aloft on any
bird which may unwittingly pass beneath the rock o r mountain escarpment upon which it has been reposing.
Such a stoop as this I once witnessed in the Highlands. A flight o f Ducks, which I had driven across
the moor, caught the piercing eye o f a Peregrine seated on a high rock about a mile distant. Down he
came with meteor-like swiftness, when the Ducks, as if aware th at it was their only chance of safety,
doubled at once in the direction o f the water they had left, both Ducks and Peregrine passing immediately
over my head with the quickness o f lightning and a rushing sound not easily to be described. Such a
momentary scene as this can only be understood by those who have witnessed it ; Mr. Wolf has endeavoured
to convey some idea o f it in the accompanying illustration. I t will be seen th at a Mallard has been
struck dead, its back beiiig ripped open by a stroke o f the Peregrine’s hind claw—a mode o f striking in
the air which I believe it always adopts. I f perchance its aim should not be certain and effective, the
Falcon usually mounts gracefully, sulkily seats itself on some neighbouring rock o r tree, and patiently
awaits another opportunity for repeating the same manoeuvre. During my travels over the plains of
Australia, Falcons frequently followed me for days together, on the chance o f my raising a quail or other
bird ; and many fine stoops have I there witnessed.
Before leaving this part o f the bird’s economy, I may mention a remarkable stoop witnessed by my friend
John Fowler, Esq., while shooting in Scotland. A small pack o f Grouse being flushed, they descended to
cross one o f the deep gorges between the hills o f the upper Findhorn, when a Peregrine, which had been
quietly seated on a neighbouring high rock far above the birds, immediately gave chase, and almost with
the quickness o f thought was down upon his bird, and bore it away in his talons in face of the spectators
above him. The consternation this sudden attack produced, not only in the pack o f birds alluded to, but
among all the Grouse on the hill-side, was such, that Mr. Fowler had excellent shooting for the next hour,
whereas before the Grouse laid so badly that he could get 110 sport.
Few birds differ more in the size of the sexes than the Peregrine, and I have been very careful in ascertaining
the relative weight o f each whenever an opportunity offered ; in this respect I have been most kindly
aided by Mr. Benjamin Leadbeater, of Brewer Street, London, who has always submitted to my inspection
any freshly killed specimens that have been sent to him ; and I should be wanting in courtesy were I not to
state that not only in this but in many other instances has Mr. Leadbeater been most obliging to me.
The average weight o f several females was 2 lbs. 5* ozs.; and the total length 19 inches, of the wing 14^,
o f the tail 7 f, o f the tarsi 2 f, and o f the middle toe and nail 2b There is no difference in the colour
and markings o f the male, o f sufficient importance to be noticed. The average weight is 1 lb. 7 ozs., and
the total length 16 inches.
The Peregrine breeds in April and May. The nest is usually placed upon the shelf o f a rock, o r near
the top of a lofty tree ; it is composed o f sticks, sea-weed, hair, and other materials. The eggs are two or
three in number, somewhat round in form, and o f a deep russet-red, blotched and lined with a deeper line.
The accompanying illustration represents an adult female about three-fourths o f the natural size. It will
be seen that the back is o f a nearly uniform deep-blne grey, while the feathers of the abdomen and flanks
are bully white, barred with blue-grey. The young of the year is very differently marked,—all the upper
surface being slaty brown, with a rufous border to each feather; the tail dark grey, crossed by live rows of
sandy-buff spots assuming on the inner webs the form of bars ; the breast and abdomen huffy white, with
a broad longitudinal stripe of dark brown down the centre o f every feather ; the axillaries too which are
regularly barred in the adult, are marked on each web with large spots o f huffy white. This plumage is
carried to the first moult, when it is exchanged for that o f the adult.