72 BIRDS OF THE WAVE AND WOODLAND 



they find their food, without danger of molestation while in 

 repose. For it Is always up on the peaks, sometimes looking 

 seaward over the nations of the sea-fowl, but generally inland, 

 where, when the clouds leave it an unbroken prospect, it 

 can sit, like some fierce old w^arden of the marches, to control 

 the tribes of the valley. It feeds by choice upon lambs, on 

 fawns and hares ; so that, though the ptarmigan and grouse 

 pay tribute, they are not harried by the eagle. 



When they wander lower down the slopes the game- 

 birds come within the earldom of the falcon, the pere- 

 grine, a terrible bird, as fierce as it is swift, and for ever 

 ranging the moors in quest of food. I have known it, in 

 India, chase its quarry right among the tents of the camp, 

 kill it within a few feet of the tethered horses and their 

 attendants, and carry off its prey before there was sense 

 enough among the onlookers to snatch up a gun. When 

 trained they are still as highly prized as of old in England, 

 and at Dholpur I have seen it flown, from the hand, at both 

 egret and duck, and marvelled, the last time as much as the 

 first, at the terrific velocity of its swoop. It seems, too, as if 

 the bird struck its prey with its beak, whereas it always strikes 

 with its talons, striking and clutching almost simultaneously. 

 The fearful impact breaks the quarry's back, and enables 

 the falcon, if it chooses, to continue its flight with the dead 

 bird in its grasp, without coming to the ground at all. 



In England, owing to increased cultivation and the en- 



