PEREGRINE FALCON. 35 



castings, which arc oblong balls, consisting of the feathers or 

 hair and bones forcibly compressed together. 



This habit of reproducing at will from the stomach the 

 remains of the last meal is common to the Shrikes, the 

 Swallows, and most of the insectivorous birds which feed on 

 coleoptera, or those insects possessed of strong and hard ex- 

 ternal wing-cases. 



In the language of Falconry, the female Peregrine is 

 exclusively called the Falcon, and on account of her greater 

 size, power, and courage, is usually flown at Herons and 

 Ducks : the male Peregrine, being smaller, sometimes 

 one-third less than the female, is called the Tercel, Tiercel, 

 and Tiercelet, and is more frequently flown at Partridges, 

 and sometimes at Magpies. Young Peregrines of the year, 

 on account of the red tinge of their plumage, are called, the 

 female, a Red Falcon, and the male, a Red Tiercel, to dis- 

 tinguish them from older birds, which are called Haggards, 

 or intermewed Hawks. The Lanner of Pennant is a young 

 female Peregrine, at which age it bears some resemblance to 

 the true Lanner, Falco lanarius of authors, — a true Falcon 

 also, but much more rare than the Peregrine, and which pro- 

 bably has never been killed in this country. Mr. Gould 

 says he was unable to find a specimen in any collection here, 

 either public or private, at the time he was desirous of figur- 

 ing this species in his Birds of Europe. The true Lanner 

 is only found in the south and south-eastern parts of Europe. 

 " The King of France, Louis XVI, had Lanners sent an- 

 nually from Malta ; but they were brought from the eastern 

 countries. It exceeds the Peregrine Falcon in size, being 

 intermediate between that and the Gyr-Falcon ; was much 

 esteemed for flying at the Kite, with which the Peregrine is 

 hardly able to contend." The name of Lanner is confined 



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