110 JER FALCON. 



It is equally so in Ireland, the MSS. of the late 

 John Templeton record a single specimen, ana a 

 letter addressed to Mr Thompson of Belfast, so 

 late as February, 1837, from J. Stewart. Esq. 

 mentions a specimen killed in a rabbit warren 

 close to Dunfanaghy. It is truly a northern 

 and maritime species maritime most probably 

 from the abundance of food which is generally 

 found around the rocky shores of its principal 

 range, the breeding resort of numberless sea fowl. 

 The manners, flight, and cry, approach very 

 closely to those of the Peregrine, it is even a more 

 daring bird, and like it delights to have its eyerie 

 on some precipitous cliff overhanging the sea. 

 The nest, according to Mr Audubon, is composed 

 of sticks, sea-weeds, and mosses, but the eggs 

 seem not yet authentically known, though we 

 have some descriptions of them as resembling 

 those of the Ptarmigan.* When approaching the 

 nest, it becomes very clamorous, descending on 

 the aggressor in sudden swoops. Dr Richardson 

 writes, " A pair of these birds attacked me as I 

 was climbing in the vicinity of their nest, built 

 on a lofty precipice, on the borders of Point Lake. 

 They flew in circles, uttering loud cries and harsh 



* Mr Yarrell mentions that two specimens of eggs in his 

 collection, " believed to belong to this species," are 

 " mottled all over with a pale reddish brown on a dull 

 white ground. "Brit. Birds, p. 28. 



