PEREGRINE FALCON. 123 



to prey on one. The same gentleman relates 

 another anecdote to the same point : " Mr 

 Sinclair, when exercising his dogs, towards the 

 end of July, preparatory to grouse shooting, saw 

 them point ; and when coming up he started a 

 male Peregrine Falcon off a Grouse just killed by 

 him, and very near the same place he came upon 

 the female bird also on a Grouse. Although my 

 friend lifted both the dead birds, the Hawks con- 

 tinued flying about, and on the remainder of the 

 flock being sprung by the dogs, either three or 

 four more Grouse were struck down by them, 

 and thus two or three brace of Grouse were 

 obtained.* Various attempts have been made 

 to ascertain the velocity of this Falcon's flight, 

 but accurate data can scarcely be procured, and 

 our results, in most instances, must be drawn by 

 deduction. It has been rated from fifty to one 

 hundred and fifty miles an hour ; at the greatest 

 velocity of its rushes we have little doubt that 

 it is beyond this speed, but in ordinary flight and 

 migration, it may have been perhaps overrated. 



The following is a description of the adults of 

 both sexes, procured on the Moffat range of hills 

 during the breeding season, and of the young in 

 its first plumage from the same locality : 



Male. Head, back of the neck, and broad 



* Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vo*. 



