IQQ FALCO PEREGRIN US. 



ed it from securing its prey. The issue of this at- 

 tempt, however, did not deter the falcon from watching 

 our subsequent movements, and another opportunity 

 soon offering, it again gave chase, and struck down 

 two birds by two rapidly re()eated blows, one of which 

 it secured and bore off in triumph." 



The cry of the peregrine falcon is loud and shrill, but 

 is seldom heard, excepting during the earlier part of 

 the breeding season. It nestles on high cliffs, especial- 

 ly those along the coast, and to places of this descrip- 

 tion exclusively it seems to resort for the purpose of 

 reposing, although some writers state that it rests and 

 even breeds in towers and steeples. When perched 

 upon a rock, or flying across its face, it does not pre- 

 sent so imposing an object as one might imagine from 

 viewing a stuffed skin in a museum, for the grey colour 

 of its upper parts blends with the tints of the stone, 

 and its sharp wings and rapid flight have the effect of 

 rendering its apparent size much less than that of the 

 buzzard. 



It is pretty generally distributed, but prefers moun- 

 tainous or rocky situations. In the winter season, 

 however, it sometimes resorts to the low grounds ; but 

 still, as thirty or forty miles are a very small distance 

 to a bird which is supposed to be capable of flying at 

 the rate of sixty or more miles in an hour, it may in 

 those cases retire at night to rocks. Whether in this 

 country individuals are partially or entirely migratory 

 is unknown. Those of the northern parts of Scotland 

 may possibly proceed southward in autumn, but on the 

 Bass Rock, in the Frith of Forth, the birds which breed 

 there are said to remain all winter. It has been seen 



