PLATE II 

 PEREGRINE FALCON. Falco peregrinus 



June i2//r, 1896. The young Peregrines depicted in this Plate were taken 

 from a nest on the summit of the peak of the Dutchman's Cap, one of the 

 Treshnish group, Inner Hebrides. 



The old birds raised a most fearful hubbub with their loud chattering 

 cries all the time I was having a tour of inspection on the island. When I 

 had finished my round I climbed the peak, and after a short time succeeded 

 in locating the site of the nest. It was about thirty feet from the top, on the 

 east side, on a ledge quite overhung by rock. While I was standing on the 

 edge of the rock debating whether to try and get down to it, or to go down 

 and climb up, the female swooped at me and struck me violently on the left 

 shoulder, tearing my coat slightly and hitting me smartly on the head with 

 her wing. I think she was as startled as I was, anyway she did not come so 

 near me again. 



The three young birds were not in the nest. One of them was almost 

 hidden among some rank grass in a corner, and the other two were at the end 

 of the ledge on the other side of the nest. In and around the nest were 

 three Puffins, a Kittiwake, and half a Manx Shearwater. I counted the feet 

 and wings of sixteen Puffins, and there was a half dried-up carcase of a 

 Wheatear which had not been picked by the young birds. 



I took away two of the young ones and reared them by hand. They 

 were very tame, and really grotesque little fellows, and I was quite sorry to 

 part with them. They are now in the gardens of the London Zoological 

 Society, where they should thrive well, as they were very strong, healthy 

 birds. 



