98 Northern Observations of Inland Birds 



to plead its preservation. Its numbers must be kept down, 

 which in all conscience is very effectively done, but the 

 destruction of breeding birds — above all, the destruction 

 of their eyries — is an act of vandalism which every 

 proprietor and tenar^t should regard with the utmost 

 disapproval. 



Why preserve the peregrine ? Why preserve the lions 

 and leopards in our zoological collections which are 

 infinitely more costly to keep ? You can go to see them 

 any day, but if you see a wild peregrine in its native 

 setting you have seen something infinitely more beautiful, 

 and you go your way feeling that you have attained some- 

 thing very much worth while. Some of us are more 

 familiar with this noble bird than many a nature lover 

 whose work chains him to pen and desk is with the little 

 kestrel, yet see him ever so often your gaze follows his 

 flight with a pleasure and fascination that never lose 

 their strength. I remember, early in my childhood, 

 seeing or rather recognizing my first peregrine as he 

 glided through immeasurable space among the clouds, 

 and never in all my life can I recall having witnessed 

 anything in wild Nature which left an impression so 

 indelible and so full of romance as that small black cross 

 against the sky ! 



When progressing in the ordinary way, the flight of 

 the peregrine does not always convey a great impression 

 of its powers, save at intervals its marvellous powers of 

 acceleration are betrayed by a seemingly idle stroke of 

 the wings, which sends the little voyager shooting ahead 

 with a suddenness of impulse which seems almost to 

 suggest an outside aid. It is not much like the common 

 hawks ; its tail is comparatively shorter and it is much 

 more sturdy in build. The tercel is distinctly blue when 

 seen close to, and in general appearances, as in flight, 

 he is not unlike the ring dove when awing — yet how 



