Northern Observations of Inland Birds 93 



jackal, in hot pursuit, snapped at the falcon, which shot 

 skywards in time to evade the steel-Hke cHck of jaws, 

 then immediately descending and with vicious screams 

 it attacked the jackal ! A second peregrine appeared 

 almost immediately, and, the hare forgotten, the two of 

 them set about the prairie wolf with a persistency and 

 ferocity which clearly indicated their intentions. They 

 appeared to be hanging over the animal's head, striking 

 its face with their wings and talons, while, in the mean- 

 time, the jackal, defending himself as best he could, 

 was working with all possible speed towards the nearest 

 cover. How the contest finished the onlooker was unable 

 to tell, for unfortunately the combatants passed out of 

 his range of vision. 



My brother was one day fishing in the Kootenays, B.C., 

 when without provocation a peregrine struck him in the 

 face, while in the same locality, to my own knowledge, 

 two gyr falcons — and the gyr might be described as a 

 peregrine of the snows — attacked and killed a wolverine 

 which attempted to destroy their eyrie, and the wolverine 

 is the hardest fighting animal for its size (20-40 lbs.) 

 in the world. In this case the falcons drove their foe 

 over a ledge to his fate. 



So much, then, to illustrate the fighting capabilities of 

 these birds of prey. A cat may be formidable when you 

 pin him on his back, a peregrine is formidable even 

 when dead for so long as muscular action remains. An 

 animal on the ground does not stand a fair chance against 

 these fighting machines of the air. It is called upon to 

 fight vertically, which is against its nature, and almost 

 immediately it becomes bewildered and incapable of 

 formidable effort. 



But to return to the two peregrines in the Pennines. 

 Shortly after the kitten incident I returned to the district 

 to learn from the keeper that he was constantly picking 



