264 ‘ BRITISH. SEA BIRDS. 
for life, resorting year after year to one particular 
cliff to breed, even though the nest be robbed 
repeatedly. No actual nest is made, the three or 
four eggs, laid in April or early May, resting in 
some slight hollow in the soil, on an overhanging 
ledge in the cliffs. They are creamy-white in 
ground colour, thickly mottled, freckled, and clouded 
with reddish-brown, brick-red, or orange-brown, of 
various shades. When flushed from the nest, the 
female becomes very noisy, and is soon joined by 
the male, both then flying about in angry alarm, 
dashing past the face of the cliff from time to time. 
The Peregrine may be readily distinguished from 
the other indigenous British Falcons by its superior 
size. The upper parts are dark slate-gray, the 
head and moustachial lines are black, the underparts 
are buffish-white, spotted on the throat and breast, 
and barred on the remainder with blackish-brown. 
The Peregrine is distributed over most parts of the 
world, but has been divided into several well- 
marked forms or races. Two other Raptorial birds 
may be met with on the coast—one, the Kestrel, 
commonly ; and the other, the Buzzard, locally. 
RAVEN. 
This species, the Corvus corax of naturalists, still 
manages to survive, and is of tolerably common 
occurrence in many localities. Formerly it was 
commonly distributed over the inland districts, but 
