G6 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



the hen bird, who sometimes sits very closely until perhaps 

 she has been rendered wild and unapproachable by per- 

 secution. Indeed, I knew of a case in which a stalker 

 succeeded in catching the Falcon as she brooded her eggs. 

 When disturbed she flies out from her nesting ledge in a 

 state of intense excitement and anxiety, moving restlessly 

 backwards and forwards across her nesting site, and uttering 

 her powerful screeching alarm call as she does so. This' 

 call soon brings her mate to her side, though he does not 

 usually venture so near the danger zone as does his better 

 half. His cries are uttered more rapidly than those of 

 the Falcon, and are in a higher key. Sometimes on such 

 occasions the form of another male Peregrine is noted, 

 circling at a great height in the sky, and this " hanger on " 

 is probably ready to fill the place of the husband should 

 any mischance happen to him. 



For many years now a pair of Peregrines have un- 

 successfully attempted to rear their young on a wild rock 

 standing on the summit of a hill two thousand feet in 

 height. The nesting site is an ideal one, but unluckily 

 it is in the heart of the country of the Red Grouse, and 

 thus the Peregrine is looked upon with scant favour. 

 Mountaineers also ascend the hill and frequently j^revent 

 the Falcon from returning to her nest for long periods. 

 But still, despite repeated misfortunes, the birds return 

 to their nesting site with every spring, though I doubt 

 whether they have succeeded in rearing a single family 

 during the last decade. 



At the present day, when every living thing at all 

 inimical to the Red Grouse is ruthlessly put out of the 

 way, the Balance of Nature must needs be destroyed, and 

 from that fact alone evils must of necessity come. Moors 

 become over-stocked, a trying winter and spring is ex- 

 perienced, and grouse disease makes its appearance. At 

 times such as these the presence of a pair — even of several 

 pairs — of Peregrines on a moor is of undoubted benefit. 



