296 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



" One was seen by my brother on a marsh near the 

 mouth of the Medway on October 1 ; it dashed down to 

 a Dunhn that he had just wounded, but did not take 

 it, and made off on receiving a long shot. In the winter 

 of 1866-67 two Peregrines were obtained on this same 

 marsh, and others have been seen occasionally, always 

 in the winter months." Lord Clifton says: "On 

 October 18 (1868) I saw a large Peregrine Falcon flying 

 over Cobham Park. One was seen during the summer 

 of 1870 ; another about December 31, 1872." 



Mr. D. T. Button, of Gravesend, writing in February, 

 1872, says : " Three Peregrines have come under my 

 notice since Christmas — one male, shot by a friend while 

 rabbiting ; one very large female, shot on the river, it 

 had just killed a Pdng Dotterel ; and one fine young 

 female shot last week on the river shore." There is a 

 male in the Maidstone Museum, obtained at Marden, 

 December 21, 1886, by Mr, H. Kennard, and a male pro- 

 cured at Lenham Heath, in December, 1892, by Mr. 

 'G. Haynes. Colonel H. W. Fielden, in his notes on the 

 Cliff Birds at Dover, 1887, says : "A pair of Peregrine 

 Falcons nest in the cliffs between Dover Castle and the 

 South Foreland, and have, I believe, reared their young 

 in safety this season. It has been a frequent source of 

 pleasure to me during the past spring to visit these 

 Falcons' breeding-place, as I invariably saw one, some- 

 times both, birds. The ' Tiercel ' was wont to resent my 

 intrusion, by flying overhead and screaming querulously ; 

 at times he would wait on within 40 or 50 yards of me. 

 These birds have shown me some good flights at Pigeons 

 this year. I was at first somewhat puzzled where these 

 Pigeons came from, because all I saw flown at were 

 evidently home-bred birds, and the Falcons always inter- 



