220 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



like a thunderbolt the ' ' game-hawk ' ' bears down 

 upon him. There is a splendidly speedy and head- 

 long rush through space, a muffled clap caused 

 by the sudden impact of two fast-moving bodies, 

 a sharp swing up rebound would be better on 

 the part of the Peregrine, and the thing is done. 

 A small shower of blue-grey feathers floating in 

 complete abandon in the air alone indicates the 

 approximate site of an every-day seaside tragedy 

 that is all, so quick has been the happening. The 

 Falcon shoots up and circles easily, now prepared 

 to descend leisurely and reap the fruits of his cruel 

 hind talon, but the Dove crashes straight to the 

 shingle : what was a moment back a creature 

 brimful of life and activity, now simply an inert 

 mass of bloodstained feathers lacerated crumpled 

 dead. 



Yet the Peregrine is not so infallible in its 

 methods as people imagine, for I have repeatedly 

 seen hunted birds Curlews in particular thwart 

 it deliberately, either by hugging the ground, or 

 by flying low over sea or loch, in which cases the 

 Falcon dare not let itself go for fear of being unable 

 to reverse engines quickly enough to escape 

 disastrous intimacy with land or water. I have, 

 too, quite often seen a Peregrine miss its mark 

 completely, and more than once, even with every- 

 thing apparently in its favour, especially when that 

 wiliest of flyers the Peewit is the intended 

 quarry. Princely murderer though the Peregrine 



