54 
The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 
the lace-like waves of blue St. Bride’s roll in one after the other, 
and there, soaring round and round with shrill cries and screams 
are the two Peregrines. At another breeding place, some miles 
farther on, I assisted at the taking of a nest in 1876. It was 
curiously placed under two large stones on a grassy platform 
half way down the cliff. There were four handsome eggs, 
rather under-sized and hard set.” We have never been to any 
spot upon the coast without seeing a Peregrine, or a pair of 
Peregrines, and were often visited by them at Stone Hall, which 
is only six miles from the sea-coast. We almost trod upon a 
Peregrine one day in one of the covers, that rose at our feet off 
a freshly-killed rabbit. We consider it rare for a Peregrine to 
attack ground game. On another occasion a party of four 
Herons was noticed flying most uneasily down the valley 
of the Cleddy, uttering harsh cries of alarm, with a fine 
Falcon (i.e., the female Peregrine) following in pursuit. The 
Falcon did not strike at the Herons, and seemed to be only 
amusing herself with the fear she had inspired. One fine 
summer’s day we watched an attempt by a pair of Peregrines to 
secure a tame Pigeon at Druidston, on the coast of St. Bride’s 
Bay. The birds made alternate sweeps at the Pigeon without 
success, and the quarry at last saved itself by taking to ground 
in some crevice in the cliff, when the disappointed Falcons flew 
out to sea, after one or two angry barks. Mr. Tracy gives the 
following interesting notes on the nests of the Peregrine, which 
he says are placed in the most inaccessible parts of the cliff. 
The birds lay four eggs, sometimes five, and, in one instance, 
he observed six young. ‘They make no nest, but lay their 
eggs in a cavity of the rock, where a little loose clayey earth has 
been deposited ; sometimes in the old nest of the Raven, or 
Carrion Crow, but I never saw a nest without a little earth in it. 
They fix upon the situation early in March, and lay about the 
first week in April. Both male and female sit in turn on the 
eggs. I have known an instance where the male hatched and 
reared the young ones, when the female had been killed; and 
also, when the male had been shot, the female has continued 
