FALCO PEREGRINUS. 107 



Suf. No marvel, an' it like your majesty, 



My Lord Protector's hawks do tower so well ; 



They know their master loves to be aloft, 



And bears his thoughts above his falcon's pitch. 

 Glo. My lord, 'tis but a base ignoble mind 



That mounts no higher than a bird can soar. 

 Card. I thought as much ; he'd be above the clouds. 



Glo. Aye, my Lord Cardinal : how think you by that ? 



Were it not good, your grace could fly to heaven ? 

 K. Hen. The treasury of everlasting joy ! 

 Card. Thy heaven is on earth ; thine eyes and thoughts 



Bent on a crown — the treasure of thy heart ; 



Pernicious protector, dangerous peer, 



That smooth'st it so with king and commonweal ! 

 Glo. What, Cardinal, is your priesthood grown peremptory ? 



Churchmen so hot ? good uncle, hide such malice ; 



With such holiness can you do it ? " — Henry VI. 



The gyr falcon was augmented into several species by 

 imperfect knowledge, confounding immature plumage with 

 different birds. Although this snowy native of the land of ice 

 is not found in Fife, still, as a " big white falcon " was seen here 

 for several days, about thirty years ago — probably from Norway — 

 like a lost traveller across the North Sea — I welcome it to a 

 place in this little history of our birds. 



The Peregrine Falcon (Falco Peregrinus.) Linn. 



" As confident as is the falcon's flight 

 Against a bird, do I with Mowbray fight." — King Richard II. 



This bird takes its name from Peregrinus — a wanderer. Next 

 to the gyr falcon it is the most powerful of our British falcons. 

 It breeds on the Island of May and the Bass Rock, also on the 

 cliffs near Tantallon Castle, St Abb's Head, and the Red Head. 

 Wherever there are high cliffs the peregrine may be found, but 

 it is only indigenous in. rocky or mountainous districts — the 

 Highlands and Northern Isles of Scotland being its favourite 

 haunts. It does not breed on trees — no matter how high, but 

 selects a high cliff skirting the coast or inland, although its nest 

 has been got on steeples, and on Antwerp Cathedral. It breeds 

 in Fife at Kincraig, near Earlsferry ; also on the High Rock at 

 Newburgh, the Lomonds, and on Benarty Rock, near Kinross. 

 Like the rest of its family it is tenacious of its haunts, and 

 returns year after year though its nest be harried. It lays in 

 April, generally three or four eggs — rarely five. It sits a month. 



