60 FALCONID^. 



grine Falcon is, however, by no means restricted to the 

 neighbourhood of the sea, but breeds on sites in the interior, 

 provided that they be sufficiently adapted from their impreg- 

 nability and resources. The same was, if it is not now, the 

 case in Ireland, where, according to Thompson, it inhabited 

 suitable localities throughout the country, breeding in inland 

 as well as marine cliffs. In the greater part of England, 

 however, it is best known as a migrant most commonly met 

 with in autumn, but occasionally wintering in some spot where 

 abundance of food is obtainable. Such migi-ants are almost 

 invariably birds of the year — real " Passage " or " Peregrine 

 Hawks," in falconers' language; but in spring it is not very 

 unusual for adults ( " Haggards " ) to make their appearance, 

 which would aj^pear to be on their way northward, and after 

 staying for a week or ten days resume their journey. Such 

 a Falcon, remarkable for her extremely pale plumage, was 

 known to the Editor for several years as haunting every sj^ring 

 for about that space of time a small plantation of old Scotch- 

 firs at Icklingham in Suffolk, and during her stay she sub- 

 sisted entirely on Stock-Doves, though the surrounding 

 heaths abounded in Partridges. It may be that such a case 

 is exceptional, but it is certain to every unprejudiced mind 

 that the Peregrine Falcon, though without doubt at times 

 destructive to game, is much less so than is supposed by 

 those who only listen to the stories of their gamekeepers 

 instead of observing facts for themselves. Indeed, there are 

 strong grounds for believing that the presence of some Fal- 

 cons or other birds-of-prey is absolutely beneficial to the 

 interests of the game-preserver, since they unquestionably 

 act as the sanitary police of Nature. On this subject Mr. 

 Gage Earle Freeman, in his ' Falconry,' writes (p. 10) : — 

 "All hawks, when they have a choice, invariably clioose the 

 easiest flight. This fact is of the last importance in the 

 matter before us : I confess I at once give it the chief place 

 in this argument. Who has not heard of the grouse disease ? 

 It has been attributed, sometimes respectively and sometimes 

 collectively to burnt heather ; to heather poisoned from the 

 dressings put on sheep ; to the sheep themselves cropping 



