PEREGRINE FALf'ON. 37 



Hawks. It is tlien, and not when he is in the air, that he 

 will use his beak in his defence. Hawks have, indeed, some- 

 times, but very rarely, been hurt by striking against the 

 Heron"'s beak when stooping ; but this has been purely by 

 accident, and not, as has been said, by the Heron's presenting 

 his beak to his pursuer as a means of defence. When the 

 Heron flies down wind, he is seldom taken, the Hawks are 

 in great danger of being lost, and as the flight is in a straight 

 line, it aiFords but little sport." 



So bold as well as rapid is the Peregrine Falcon, that it 

 has frequently interfered and robbed the sportsman of his 

 game in the manner described under the article " Golden 

 Eagle," of Avhich instances are related by Mr. Selby and 

 others. This species has been most aptly termed peregrmus, 

 since it has been found in very distant parts of the world ; 

 its extraordinary powers of flight being probably one great 

 cause of extensive geographical distribution. In this coun- 

 try it makes its nest on the high cliffs between Freshwater 

 Gate and the lighthouse, near the Needle Rocks in the Isle 

 of Wight. In Devonshire and Cornwall it is known by the 

 name of the Cliff-Hawk. Pennant has recorded a locality 

 on the rocky coast of Caernarvonshire. The young have 

 been obtained from the rocks about Holyhead, and the Great 

 Orme's Head ; and in Ireland, Mr. Thompson informs me 

 it is not uncommon in rocky situations inland as well as 

 marine. Mr. Selby, in the Proceedings of the Berwickshire 

 Naturalists' Club, has noticed both adult birds and their 

 young in the vicinity of St. Abb's Head ; in Scotland it is 

 also well known, and Sii; William Jardine, in his Notes on 

 this bird, in his edition of Wilson's American Ornithology, 

 names the Vale of Moffat in Dumfriesshire, the Bass Rock, 

 and the Isle of May in the Forth, as places in which these 



