PEREGRINE. Th 
form the food of the one before us, live in its immediate 
vicinity, without any apparent fear or dread. They seem 
patiently to ‘bide their time,’ and take their chance of being 
singled out from their fellows. Perhaps with equal wisdom 
to that of the followers of the Prophet, they are believers in 
fatalism, and content with the knowledge that whatever is, 
is, and whatever will be, will be, live a life of security, and 
resign it at the ‘fiat’ of the Peregrine, as a matter of course. 
This applies to cases where both are residents together; where 
however, strange to say, the Peregrine is only a straggling 
visitor, his presence but for a day or two has the effect of 
dispersing the flocks of birds, which had been enjoying them- 
selves before his arrival. Its mode of striking its prey has 
been variously described. It has by many been supposed to 
stun its victim by the shock of a blow with its breast, and 
by others it has been known to rip a furrow in its quarry 
completely from one end of the back to the other, with its 
talons or bill. In the former case it is said to wheel about, 
and return to pick up the quarry it has struck. It is, as 
may be supposed, the terror of all it pursues, which, rather 
than venture again on the wing while it is in the neighbour- 
hood, will suffer themselves to be taken by the hand. 
In the pursuit of birds near the sea, the Peregrine frequently 
loses them by their seeking refuge on the water, where they 
are safe for the time from his attack. If they leave it for 
the land, they are again pursued, and most interesting chases 
of this kind have often been witnessed: they end either in 
the Hawk catching the bird before it can reach the water, 
or in his being tired out by its perseverance in thus keeping 
him at bay. Conscious of the disadvantage it is at on this 
element, it but very rarely indeed attempts to seize prey when 
upon it: it has, however, been known to carry off a razor-bill 
or guillemot from a flock in the water, and bear it away to 
its nest. The mention of this bird may introduce the fol- 
lowing anecdote related by Montagu:—‘A writer in a popular 
periodical describes one pursuing a razor-bill, which, instead of 
assaulting as usual with the death pounce from the beak, he 
seized by the head with both his claws, and made towards 
the land, his prisoner croaking, screaming, and struggling 
lustily; but being a heavy bird, he so far overbalanced the 
aggressor, that both descended fast towards the sea, when, 
just as they touched the water, the Falcon let go his hold 
and ascended, the razor-bill as instantaneously diving below.’ 
