Bird Notes & News 



ISSUED QUARTERLY BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Vol. X.] 



AUTUMN, 1923. 



[No. 7. 



The Falcons of Great Orme's Head 



The young Peregrine Falcon whose photo- 

 graph appears in this number of Bird 

 Notes and News, has been through an 

 adventure which at one time seemed 

 Hkely to be for him a tragedy. He first 

 saw the Hght in a nest under the Light- 

 house on the Great Orme's Head, that 

 magnificent promontory which lends 

 the chief charm to Llandudno. He was 

 hatched under good auspices, for the 

 birds here are protected by the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds, 

 through the co-operation of Lord Mostyn 

 and his Agent, Mr. G. A. Humphreys, J.P. 

 But in June the nest was raided by one 

 Enoch Williams, a labourer of the town, 

 who took the young bird and was seen 

 near the Market Hall, endeavouring to 

 sell it for 35s., a crowd of people being 

 attracted by the loud screeching protest 

 of the furious young prisoner and his 

 attempts to get out of the undignified 

 basket in which Williams had placed him. 

 A local policeman, knowing that a 

 look-out was being kept for persons who 

 molest and destroy wild bird fife in the 

 neighbourhood, took Williams off to the 

 Police Station, where he was duly warned 

 and charged with being in possession 

 of a young Peregrine Falcon contrary 

 to the law. 



On being informed of the occurrence 

 Mr. Humphreys went to the station and 

 examined the bird, and found it ruffled 

 and ragged and suffering from a damaged 

 wing and injured feet, no doubt the 

 result of imprisonment. On one leg a 

 toe had lost its nail, and on the other a 

 toe seemed dead, the Falcon not using 

 it when grasping. He was too young 

 to be let free, and consequently a home 

 was given him in an outside aviary at 



Gloddaeth Hall, the residence of Lord 

 Mostyn. 



On July 9th, Enoch WiUiams was 

 prosecuted by the Society, and was fined 

 the nominal sum of 5s., with a warning 

 against further steahng. The forfeited 

 bird remained, by willing consent of the 

 Bench, in the aviary, where he was 

 attended and fed by Lord Mostyn's 

 keeper and gardener, and soon began to 

 eat and thrive till, in ten days' time, 

 he could fly well and seemed in beautiful 

 feather and fit to take care of himself, 

 Mr. Humphreys decided to set him free. 

 He was first photographed by Mr. Ricketts, 

 but with some difficulty as he was very 

 wild and dashed against the wire when 

 the camera was brought near. Soon 

 after noon, on July 27th, the door of 

 the aviary was opened, the bird being 

 then on a central perch and facing the 

 outside ; and the young Peregrine, within 

 three or four seconds, flew straight 

 through the doorway and "^^dth a lordlj'' 

 sweep crossed the ground at great speed 

 in a south-easterly direction for about 

 half a mile, then swerved to the north- 

 east and was lost to view. 



At the hearing of the case the chief 

 defence raised was a statement of the 

 number of homing-pigeons killed, or 

 believed to be killed, by the Falcons for 

 their young, as indicated by feet and 

 rings found in the nest. This was 

 obviously no admissible answer to the 

 charge of infringing the Protection law, 

 but has led to an outcry from fanciers 

 for the removal of protection from the 

 bird, 



A large number of articles have regretfully to be 

 held over, including "The Swallows," "An Egyptian 

 Sanctuary," "Birds of Jamaica," etc. 



