CH. IV.] PEREGRINE FALCONS STARLINGS. 195 



But one pair of Peregrine Falcons has, it is 

 said (and, so far as I am able to make out, cor- 

 rectly), ever been known to breed at one time in 

 the cliffs at Freshwater. Every year the nest is 

 robbed by the fishermen, who get good prices for 

 both eggs and young birds, and none of the latter 

 are therefore ever suffered to escape. Frequently 

 one of the old birds has been shot, and occa- 

 sionally both have shared the same fate while 

 engaged in nesting there, but none of these cir- 

 cumstances has ever made the slightest difference, 

 and the due appearance of a pair at the breeding 

 season has never been interrupted. 



The mysterious way in which Trout appear to 

 become acquainted with the fact that a vacancy 

 has occurred behind a particular stone, or other 

 favourite harbour, has, I dare say, struck other 

 fishermen besides myself, who will doubtless have 

 noticed how invariably such a locality is the haunt 

 of a "good fish," the tenant in occupation being 

 very frequently about the same size as his pre- 

 decessor. 



Formerly such a thing as a Starling's nest was 

 (I believe) unknown in the Isle of Wight. Now 

 they breed there in great numbers, scarcely a 

 convenient hole in tree or thatch being without 



02 



