PEREGRINE FALCON. 13I 



and he could not tell the Hawk from the Heron ; but with the 

 wind southerly, when the birds fly away from the sun, they could 

 easily be distinguished. Hamlet would thus show that his madness 

 was much akin to other men's sanity. 



Note in Yarrell (V. I., p. 57. j 



Hawking is still carried on in the New Forest, Hampshire. 



The Peregrine Falcon usually builds on the ledge of some 

 precipitous rock near the sea, or a lake, but it also builds 

 occasionally in trees. The bold headland called Culver Cliff, on 

 the east of the Isle of Wight, is a noted resort of the Peregrine 

 Falcon ; it has been known to breed there repeatedly within the 

 last few years. Its natural food consists of Grouse, Ptarmigan, 

 Pigeons, Partridges, Ducks, Gulls, and various species of sea 

 fowl ; and like all birds that feed on animals covered with fur 

 or feather, it throws up castings formed of the indigestible portion 

 of its food. 



A life at every meal, rapacious Hawk ? 

 Spare helpless innocence. 



. . . . Troth, pleasant talk ! 

 Yon Sparrow snaps more lives up in a day 

 Than in a twelvemonth I could take away ; 

 But hark ! most gentle censor, in your ear, 

 A word, a whisper : — you, — are you quite clear ? 

 Creation's groans, through ocean, earth and sky, 

 Ascend from all that walk, or swim, or fly. 



Montgomery— jBtV(Z«. 



The Peregrine Falcon is now a very rare visitor to Herefordshire. 



for a falconer's lure. 

 To lure this tassel-gentle back again. 



Shakespeare — Romeo and Juliet, 11. , 2. 



Still a winter seldom passes without one or two being seen in 

 some part of the county. In 1865, a fine specimen was taken in the 

 neighbourhood of Ross. In 1866, a young Peregrine Falcon was 

 shot in a wood near Leominster. Two others were in company 

 with it, and the woodman believed they had been bred there, 

 which is extremely doubtful, to say the least of it. There are four 

 specimens in the Hereford Museum ; two from the Ross district, 

 one from Woolhope, and one from Garnons. There are also 

 many others preserved in private houses, scattered throughout 



