244 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



white-chested form found elsewhere, being of a 

 dirty -grey there instead. 



The eggs are deposited at intervals of two, 

 rarely three, and very rarely four, days, while 

 both sexes though the female particularly par- 

 ticipate in incubation, which lasts twenty-eight days 

 exactly. Only rarely does brooding truly start 

 with the first egg or two dropped, although, as 

 soon as the first even has been laid, it is of general 

 occurrence for one of the Peregrines to stand 

 sentinel on the edge of the eyrie.* 



The young are white, fluffy, very pink-skinned 

 fellows when in the downy state, and take nearly six 

 weeks to acquire full feathering, remaining in their 

 soiled birthplace till such is acquired. Even after 

 this they remain with their assiduous parents for 

 quite another month, when they are driven off to 

 fend for themselves. 



Single-brooded, if the first clutch of eggs is 

 taken, a second is generally, but not universally, 

 laid, after an interval of between three and four 

 weeks, that is, the clutch will be completed by 

 then. On the south coast (including Dorset, 

 Devon, and Cornwall), I have known of full 



* The hatching-period of any Peregrine's egg is twenty-eight days : 

 for although one of the birds often covers, or half covers, the first 

 and succeeding eggs laid, it seldom sits for a sufficient length of time 

 at a stretch to " turn " them. Naturally, however, when the occa- 

 sion does arise that incubation really commences with any number 

 of eggs short of the full clutch, a few days longer must be allowed 

 for the hatching of one or some of the eggs. As to the number of 

 the " few days," that, of course, will depend entirely on as to when 

 exactly real " sitting " started. 



