PEREGRIXE FALCOX. 179 



\rards Cape Lookout. The falcons very soon overtook 

 the fuaritives, and o^appled them. but. to my surprise, 

 all fell into the sea and were drovmed. I had a dis- 

 tinct view of all this, as had the officers of the United 

 States' revenue cutter the Marion. Tlie weather was 

 fine, and the breeze only moderate, so that I cannot ac- 

 count for the fact, as the peregrine is fully able to carry 

 a willow grous or a teal in its talons to a great dis- 

 tance, apparently without much trouble.'' 



Propagatiox. — The Peregrine Falcon begins to 

 breed early in spring. Its nest is vrith us always placed 

 on the shelf or in the crevice of a rock. The eggs, 

 which are two, three, or four in number, are of a short 

 elliptical form, dull light red, spotted and blotched with 

 deep red. Their average length is two inches and one- 

 twelfth, their greatest breadth one and seven-twelfths : 

 their form broadly elliptical. The young, which are at 

 first covered with close white down, are able to fly by 

 the middle of July. 



Young Bird fledged. — The young, when fullv 

 fledged, have the bill of a dull pale blue, the tips darker, 

 the cere and bare space about the eve of a livid blue, the 

 irides blackish-brown, the feet greyish-yellow. The 

 forehead and cheeks yellowish-white ; the upper parts 

 generally brownish-black shaded with grey, the feathers 

 edged with pale brown ; the upper part of the neck be- 

 hind yellowish-white spotted with dusky. The quills 

 and tail are blackish-brown, the former spotted with 

 brownish- white on the inner web and tipped with the 

 same, the latter marked with brownish-red bars. The 



