PEREGRINE FALCON. 23 
FALCO PEREGRINUS. 
PEREGRINE FALCON. 
(PLATE 3.) 
Accipiter falco, Briss. Orn. i. p. 321 (1760). 
Accipiter faleo peregrinus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 841 (1760). 
Falco gentilis, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 126 (1766)*. 
Accipiter peregrinus, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 55, pls. xxiii., xxiv. (1767); et 
auctorum plurimorum—(Latham), (Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), 
(Gray), (ume), (Newton), (Dresser), &e. 
Falco peregrinus, Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. 1 (1771). 
Falco orientalis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 264 (1788, ex Lath.). 
Falco communis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 270 (1788, ex Buff.). 
Falco calidus, Lath. Ind. Orn, i. p. 41 (1790). 
Falco lunulatus, Daud. Traité, ii. p. 122 (1800, ex Lath.). 
Falco abietinus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 759 (1805). 
Falco pinetarius, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. vii. pt. i. p. 195 (1809). 
Falco anatum, Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Am. p. 4 (1838, ex Audubon). 
Falco micrurus, Hodgs. Gray’s Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844). 
Falco nigriceps, Cass. B. Calif. p. 87 (1855). 
Falco brookii, Sharpe, Ann. Nat. Hist. xi. pp. 21, 222 (1873). 
The Peregrine Falcon is undoubtedly the commonest of the larger birds 
of prey now found in the British Islands—a bird noted for its marvellous 
rapidity of movement and flight, its almost unequalled audacity and bold- 
ness, and for the great reputation it bore in the days when falconry was a 
favourite pursuit. Although slowly but surely becoming extinct in the 
British Islands, the Peregrine still breeds in a few localities in England; 
but is much commoner in Scotland and Ireland, where the wildness and 
seclusion of the scenery afford it a safer and more suitable refuge. At 
the present day the Peregrine breeds sparingly on the sea-girt cliffs of the 
south coast from Cornwall to Kent, the rocky headlands of Wales, and 
inland in several ijocalities of Cumberland and Westmoreland; but it is 
most probable that the bird has now deserted the cliffs of the Yorkshire 
coast for ever. In Scotland we find it becomes much more numerous, 
most, if not all, the great bird-rocks and precipices being tenanted by a 
* There seems to be little doubt that the F/. gentilis of Linnzeus is an immature Pere- 
grine. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the Falcon Gentle of Albin, to which he 
refers, is a Peregrine. Many of the Linnean names (notably those of the Owls) admitted 
by ornithologists are much more doubtful and much less clearly defined. There are only 
three logical ways of treating this question. If you do not reject the doubtful names 
alluded to, or adopt the name of F. gentilis for the Peregrine, the only alternative is to 
reject the laws of priority of publication and clear definition before they have still further 
complicated and confused the study of ornithology. 
