THE PEREGRINE FALCON. 309 



pair, another will choose the favourite spot and 

 there nest. The next couple may be some miles 

 distant, the third yet farther, and all will, perhaps, 

 safely rear their young. Nevertheless there is no 

 apparent addition to the number of nests. The 

 same spots recollected as breeding haunts by old 

 men in their youth are still occupied by their pair 

 of Falcons, the nearest headland in the same way, 

 and so on all round the coast. What becomes of 

 the young ? they are seldom taken, and the only 

 way to account for it is to lay the murder at the 

 door of the Great Black-backed Gull. A similar 

 coincidence may be noticed with regard to Ravens ; 

 they neither increase or diminish, though in certain 

 places the latter rear their broods in security every 

 year. A pair of Falcons are fond of appropriating 

 some lonely rock, where they take up their quar- 

 ters among the sea-fowl, the best of which they 

 take for themselves and their brood, keeping the 

 unhappy sea-birds, as they continually soar over 

 them in the nesting season, in constant dread and 

 apprehension. 



Mr. Dillwyn tells me that Peregrines are numer- 

 ous along the north coast of co. Mayo, and Mr. 

 Warren, of Ballina, says that in his district this 

 Falcon is common, and breeds in the cliffs. He 

 has often seen them prey upon Curlews, and even 

 rescued them from their clutches. On the day 

 these birds of prey come down to the sands, sport 

 with the gun, in his experience, is over. Wigeon, 

 Curlews, and Plovers are at once on the alert, and 

 the last-named will keep on the wing for hours, at 

 an immense height, if once disturbed by a Falcon. 



