PEREGRINE FALCONS 229 



doves (once the latter have got into their swing), 

 carries its legs straight out under the tail, occa- 

 sionally one or both being dropped limply, as if 

 broken, and so for the nonce useless. 



The Peregrine pairs for life, and except that the 

 couple seldom hunt in company, the two are fre- 

 quently together, especially in the region of the 

 clitfs, the vicinity of the eyrie being resorted to the 

 calendar through, the birds roosting by it every 

 night. Indeed, towards sundown is always a time 

 for a sure find, when before finally retiring to 

 roost and how bitter their couch, often on some 

 totally exposed pinnacle, during the blustering 

 or frost-gripped nights of winter a meal is 

 usually indulged in. During winter, Peregrines 

 and particularly immigrants and brown, immature 

 home-bred birds this species taking nearly two 

 years to acquire fully adult grey plumage and not 

 breeding until such is attained are of a decidedly 

 roving disposition, when it is quite usual to 

 encounter one, or a pair, passing over and even 

 taking up temporary residence in wooded realms. 

 Wood -pigeons then supply them largely and 

 liberally with their daily bread, and also wild-fowl, 

 if, as is often the case, their time-being resort is 

 adjacent to a sheet of water. 



In the hey-day of spring and summer, how- 

 ever, the breeding stock (what becomes of the 

 non-breeding one-year-olds then, is a puzzle) con- 

 fine themselves (in scattered pairs, of course, each 



