PEREGRINE FALCON. 305 



protruding his powerful legs and talons to their full stretch. 

 His wings are for a moment almost closed ; the next instant 

 he grapples the prize, which, if too weighty to be carried off 

 directly, he forces obliquely toward the ground, sometimes a 

 hundred yards from where it was seized, to kill it, and devour 

 it on the spot. Should this happen over a large extent of water, 

 the Falcon drops his prey, and sets off in quest of another. On 

 the contrary, should it not prove too heavy, the exulting bird 

 carries it oiF to a sequestered and secure place. He pursues 

 the smaller Ducks, Water-hens, and other swimming birds, 

 and if they are not quick in diving, seizes them, and rises with 

 them from the water. I have seen this hawk come at the 

 report of a gun, and carry off a Teal not thirty steps distant 

 from the sportsman who had killed it, with a daring assurance 

 as surprising as unexpected." In Labrador and Newfoundland, 

 where he found it more abundant than elsewhere, " the nests 

 were placed on the shelves of rocks, a few feet from the top, 

 and were flat, and rudely constructed of sticks and moss. In 

 some were found four eggs, in others only two, and in one five ; 

 in one nest only a single young bird was found. The eggs vary 

 considerably in colour and size, which I think is owing to a 

 difference of size in the females, the eggs of young birds being 

 smaller. The average length of four was two inches, their 

 breadth an inch and five-eighths. They are somewhat rounded, 

 though larger at one end than the other ; their general and 

 most common colour is a reddish or rusty yellowish-brown, 

 spotted and confusedly marked with darker tints of the same, 

 here and there intermixed with lighter. The young are at first 

 thickly covered with soft white down. They take food almost 

 immediately after being removed from the nest. Remains of 

 Ducks, Willow Grouse, and young Gulls were found about 

 the nests, which are easily discovered by the excrements on the 

 rocks." 



In the olden times, when ferocious feuds afforded occupa-- 

 tion to the nobility, and when even the pursuits of peaceful 

 days had reference to bloodshed, hawking was a favourite 

 amusement with those whose rank entitled them to enoface in 

 jt. Various species of predatory birds were trained for this 



VOL. III. X 



