270 THE NATURAL HISTORY [LETT. 



One of the keepers of Wolmer Forest sent me a peregrine- 

 falcon, which he shot on the verge of that district, as it was 

 devouring a wood-pigeon. The Falco pcregrinus, or haggard 

 falcon, is a noble species of hawk seldom seen in the southern 

 counties. In the winter of 1767 one was killed in the neighbouring 

 parish of Farringdon, and sent by me to Mr. Pennant into North 

 Wales. 1 Since that time I have met with none till now. The 

 specimen mentioned above was in fine preservation, and riot 

 injured by the shot : it measured forty-two inches from wing to 

 wing, and twenty-one from beak to tail, and weighed two pounds 

 and a half standard weight. This species is very robust, and 

 wonderfully formed for rapine : its breast was plump and 

 muscular ; its thighs long, thick, and brawny ; and its legs 

 remarkably short and well set : the feet were armed with most 

 formidable, sharp, long talons : the eyelids and cere of the bill 

 were yellow ; but the irides of the eyes dusky ; the beak was 

 thick and hooked, and of a dark colour, and had a jagged process 

 near the end of the upper mandible on each side : its tail, or train, 

 was short in proportion to the bulk of its body : yet the wings, 

 when closed, did not extend to the end of the train. From its 

 large and fair proportions it might be supposed to have been a 

 female ; but I was not permitted to cut open the specimen. 

 For one of the birds of prey, which are usually lean, this was in 

 high case : in its craw were many barley-corns, which probably 

 came from the crop of the wood-pigeon, on which it was feeding 

 when shot : for voracious birds do not eat grain ; but, when 

 devouring their quarry, with undistinguishing vehemence they 

 swallow bones and feathers, and all matters, indiscriminately. 

 This falcon was probably driven from the mountains of North 

 Wales or Scotland, where they are known to breed, by rigorous 

 weather and the deep snows that had lately fallen. 



1 See my Tenth and Eleventh Letters, pages 28 and 34. 



