148 THE FALCONS 



Mr. Forrest remarks that the peregrine is particularly fond of these 

 birds, and will travel miles to find them. 1 The tiercel seems to take 

 special interest in the capture of this prey, and celebrates his success 

 by marked jubilation, flying out to sea with his capture, and calling to 

 his sitting mate, who then quits the nest and flies out to meet him. 

 He then soars up and drops his prize, which is caught in mid-air. 2 



In the case of the golden-eagle it will be remembered the female 

 brooded the young at night, for a time. But whether this is ever 

 done in the case of the peregrine seems uncertain. The young were 

 certainly left to themselves all night in the eyrie watched by Dr. 

 Heatherly. He further remarks that no cleaning of the nest is done 

 except occasionally, when remains of uneaten prey are removed. 

 And here it may be remarked that while some of the Raptors seem 

 careful to remove all pellets from the nest, others use them as a lining 

 therefor ; the peregrine seems indifferent as to where these castings 

 are dropped. And it should be noted, too, that there is no apparent 

 attempt at concealing the neighbourhood of the eyrie, since the 

 common nesting-place of the adults may generally be readily dis- 

 covered by the " whitewash " made by the excreta, which, in the birds 

 of prey, are always very fluid. Another tell-tale is furnished by the 

 place used for preparing the food for the young, Messrs. Coward 

 and Oldham 3 recording observations they kept on an eyrie : " for a 

 quarter of a mile beyond the nest the top of the cliff was a perfect 

 shambles," the feathers and blood showing where the victims had 

 been plucked. Among the remains they found those of the common 

 tern, pigeon, stockdove, and cuckoo. 



Dr. Heatherly records two distinct cries of the young, a whim- 

 pering sound, like " cheers, cheers" in a loud whisper while being fed, 

 and a yelping noise when alarmed. After feeding, the young would 

 sometimes stand round their parent uttering this whimpering in 

 chorus, and bobbing their heads up and down, the parent responding 

 by similar movements, but in silence. 



1 Forrest, Fauna of North Wales, p. 335. J Ibid. 3 Zoologist, 1904, p. 13. 



