30 OUR RARER BIRDS 



the accumulation of chance. Round the nest were quantities 

 of bones and feathers, a few pellets, and the legs and feet of 

 a Puffin, which had evidently only just been eaten. The 

 nest contained a single young bird, covered with gray down, 

 which allowed me to examine it minutely without the least 

 show of resistance. 



Another nest which I visited a little earlier in the year 

 was in a long range of cliffs that rose sheer from the 

 water six hundred feet. This also was a shallow hole in the 

 soil on the rocks, about nine inches across. In it were a few 

 bits of dry heather, and one or two scraps of down, probably 

 from the parent birds. The behaviour of the old birds at this 

 nest was not quite so demonstrative, although they kept up a 

 chorus of angry cries. It contained three eggs, and from 

 their condition I should infer that the female in some cases 

 begins to sit as soon as the first egg is laid. Another nest 

 which I well remember was on a stupendous inland " storr " 

 rock, in which a pair of Eavens had dwelt for years, and 

 where numerous Jackdaws and Starlings also reared their 

 young. The Peregrine's nest was built in a narrow fissure, 

 which extended three parts of the way up the cliff. In this 

 case no nest was made, except a little hollow in the ground. 

 From near the nest a grand look-out could be obtained over 

 a wide expanse of moor and mountain scenery, Year after 

 year the Peregrines bred in this noble rock, in spite of the 

 fact that either their young or their eggs were taken every 

 season. It was a most interesting sight to watch the old 

 birds shoot down from the highest air with half-closed wings 

 and enter the fissure, sometimes with a Pigeon or a Grouse 

 in their talons. 



The eggs of the Peregrine are three or four in number, 

 and in colour precisely resemble those of the well-known 

 Kestrel. They vary a good deal in size and shape, but are 

 not easily confused with those of any other British species. 



