PEREGRINE FALCON. 27 
the Guillemots and Puffins were disporting on the sea at the base of 
the cliff, looking for all the world like small animated air-bubbles or specks 
of foam, whilst the air around was full of Gannets sailing dreamily about, 
their snow-white plumage glistening in the noonday sun, and their grating 
cries, harsh though they were, lending a wild charm to the scene around. 
Far up in the air above the two old Peregrines were sailing in ever widening 
circles, the female bird, easily distinguishable by her superiority in size, 
venturing the closest, sometimes coming so near as to enable me to catch 
the sparkle of her bright black eye and hear the rustle of her pinions. The 
male bird was much more wary, and kept at a respectful distance, whilst 
both birds incessantly uttered their sharp chattering cry of alarm at the 
threatened danger to their offspring. The nest was on a narrow ledge of 
the rock, just affording sufficient standing-room, and was a poorly made 
crude structure. It consisted for the greater part of a few bits of vegetation, 
placed there by chance alone, carelessly strewed in a little hollow. Quan- 
tities of feathers, a few pellets, and the bones and feet of various birds 
strewed the vicinity of the nest, amongst them being the legs and feet of a 
Puffin just recently conveyed there. Of course, had the nest only contained 
eggs, the feathers and other refuse would probably have been absent. It 
contained a single young bird in dirty white down, that allowed me to 
examine it minutely without the least show of resistance. Scattered 
round and in the nest were numerous pellets, formed of fur and feathers 
and small bones, the refuse of the bird’s food, which is thus ejected.” 
Harvie-Brown and I found the Peregrine breeding on the steep clay 
banks of the river Petchora in North-east Russia, at Stanavialachta. On 
the 27th of June, on the grassy top of a mound halfway down the mud-cliffs 
overlooking this great river, and within sight of the Arctic Ocean, we came 
upon the nest. It contained four eggs, one of which was much lighter in * 
colour than the others. This mound had probably been used for some 
years as a nesting-place by the Falcons, since the grass was much greener 
upon it than upon the surrounding places. A little way off there rose 
another mound just similar to it: and this was apparently the Falcon’s 
dining-table ; for scattered all about it were feathers of Grouse, of Long- 
tailed Duck, and of divers small birds. While we remained near the 
nest the two Falcons hovered round, uttering sharp cries; when we 
approached nearer still they redoubled their screams, hovered over us, 
closed their wings, and descended perpendicularly till within a few yards 
of our heads. A mile up the river we found a second nest upon an 
exactly similar green-topped mound. ‘This nest contained three eggs; and 
the behaviour of the birds as we neared it was the same as that of the 
previous pair. I also met with the Peregrine breeding on the tundra on 
the steep mud cliffs on the banks of the Yenesay. In lat. 694° I spent 
the night of the 13th—14th of July on shore, shooting. I had no sooner 
