178 FALCO PEREGRINUS. 



rock. At Labrador, where seven or eight nests were 

 examined, I found them formed of sticks, sea-weeds, 

 and bunches of hair of different quadrupeds, especially 

 of the rein-deer. They were flat, and looked more like 

 a mattress than a proper nest. The eggs never ex- 

 ceeded four, and more frequently were only two. The 

 remains of prey about the nests, and at the foot of the 

 rocks, were portions of willow grous, Canada grous, 

 young hares, fish, and young gulls of the larger species. 

 The fish they procnred in great abundance along the 

 shores, but rarely picked up any very large ones, the 

 kind selected being usually codlings of eight or nine 

 inches in length. 



" During the winter months, this species is found in 

 the interior of the United States more frequently than 

 along the sea-shore, and may be said to be then com- 

 mon on the Ohio and Mississippi, where the numerous 

 kinds of ducks found there at that season furnish them 

 with an abundant supply of food. But in those regions 

 I never observed one attacking a quadruped of any sort, 

 or even committing depredations on the poultry, al- 

 though they are extremely expert in seizing tame 

 pigeonsl 



" I have rarely crossed the Atlantic without ob- 

 serving this bird, sometimes at a great distance from 

 land ; and on account of its easy manner of flight on 

 such occasions, I conceive the peregrine to be a bird 

 capable of more protracted flight than any with which 

 I am acquainted, not excepting even the passenger 

 pigeon. While passing across the Gulf of Mexico in 

 the month of Afay, I saw a pair give chase to two 

 kingfishers, flying apparently from Cape Florida to- 



