170 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



own. It has been known to carry a Grouse or a Pheasant 

 a distance of several miles, as, for instance, from the 

 mainland moors or coverts to the cliffs of the Bass Rock. 

 The attack is always from above, and it is no force of 

 impact, but the mere grip of the powerful talons that 

 ends the victim's struggles. Man, we have said, is the 

 Falcon's only serious foe, and of him it is usually shy 

 and wary. When anything is to be gained, however, 

 it will behave with extraordinary boldness. Numberless 

 instances are on authentic record of a Falcon dashing in 

 and seizing a wounded bird on the wing before the sport- 

 man's eyes, or dealing havoc among the covey he has just 

 ' flushed.' In such cases the suddenness, unexpectedness, 

 and short duration of the manoeuvre makes the danger 

 small ; but when a pair, as sometimes happens, exhibit a 

 useless bravado near their eyrie it may prove their un- 

 doing should the keeper of the neighbouring moor have 

 a grudge against them for their many meals of Grouse. 

 It is, indeed, grouse-preserving M^hich is responsible for the 

 scarcity of the Peregrine nowadays. To the lover of 

 wild nature a live Falcon is worth many dead Grouse ; but 

 it is only a few proprietors who can see the matter in 

 this light. Many of the maritime haunts, however, are 

 far removed from moorlands, and no one grudges the 

 loss of the Puffins, whose numbers are well able to bear 

 the toll. But there the collector, or, more dangerous still, 

 the poor fisherman inspired by his prices, often carries on 

 a sad robbery of the eggs of this and other rare birds. 



With this species we have begun our description of 

 the Birds-of-Prey, an Order whose general characteristics 

 are at once so distinct and so well-known as to need no 

 enumeration. One or two less familiar points may, how- 

 ever, be noted. As in this species, the female is usually 

 considerably the larger bird, the difference being very 



