TJicir Eggs and Nests. 45 



said nest for cabinet purposes. The nght hand of the 

 fortunate collector would have been the penalty- in 

 those days of strict " game laws." So stringent, in- 

 deed, were the provisions for preserving the Peregrine, 

 that the customary breeding haunt of a pair was 

 placed under the especial care of the occupiers of the 

 land in the immediate vicinity, and they were made 

 responsible, by the terms of their tenure, for the safe 

 keeping of the noble birds and their offspring. One 

 such site is in Goathland, on the line of the Pickerinsr 

 and Whitby Railway ; and it is an interesting fact in 

 the nesting habits of the Peregrine, that until within 

 a recent period (and it is believed at the present time 

 also). Killing-nab Scar has always been a site of that 

 Falcon's nidification.^ Many of its breeding places, 

 perhaps like others in the interior, known time out of 

 mind by some name derived from the circumstance of 

 their being thus appropriated, such as Falcon-scar, 

 Hawk-scar, Eagle-cliff, are among the tallest and least 

 accessible rocks both in the interior and on the sea 

 coast. The nest itself is placed on some projection, 

 possibly within some fissure, and is made of sticks, or 

 seaweed from the coast, and is lined with some hair, 

 on which, for the hollow is not deep, the eggs repose. 

 These are from two to four in number, often vary a 

 good deal in size (probably according to the age of the 

 laying bird), and not less in the markings and mottlings 

 which pervade the entire surface. A reference to the 



1 It has bred iu this vicinity more than once within the last half 

 score years. I have had the details of more than one or two in- 

 stances (two in the parisli of Fylingdalcs) sent me only three or four 

 years ago. 



