12 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



with considerable success, and is in my opinion the 

 pursuit which preeminently deserves the untrans- 

 latable title of sport. In the work just mentioned will 

 be found, at p. 99, an amusing account of the method 

 of catching Falcons for training in Holland. I only 

 mention this for the reason that I have adopted this 

 same method in this immediate neighbourhood, and 

 caught four wild Peregrines thereby. It is a some- 

 what remarkable fact that, although the great majority 

 of Peregrines that I have known of, and seen shot 

 and caught, in this county have been in immature 

 plumage, every male has been an adult, or, at any 

 rate, a twice-moulted individual*. I heard from one 

 of my gamekeepers of his having seen a Falcon catch 

 a Starling in the second week of August 1870 in this 

 immediate neighbourhood. This is an unusually 

 early appearance of this species in these parts. The 

 Peregrine is known by many names amongst game- 

 keepers and others in various parts of the country. I 

 have heard it called Blue-Hawk, Partridge-Hawk, 

 Duck-Hawk, Bird-Hawk, &c. ; but I think since I 

 have flown Falcons in these parts that the proper 

 term Falcon, or some modification such as Falkner 

 or Fawkenhawk, is generally used. 



I have kept many Peregrines, both trained and 

 untrained, and from my personal experience am in- 

 clined to credit them with a high degree of intelli- 

 gence, and, against the generally received opinion, a 

 capacity for attachment to man entirely apart from 

 " cupboard love." But the truth is that there is just 

 as much variety of disposition and physical constitu- 

 tion amongst Falcons certainly, and in all probability 

 amongst other species of birds, as amongst dogs, 



* This paragraph was written in 1876, and no longer holds good. 



