A Collection of "Vermin" 55 



strip it, not merely in a headlong stoop, but in fair flight. 

 This was at a mountain tarn, and the Teal was rushing 

 furiously for the water, with the falcon (a male Peregrine) 

 following, apparently at his leisure, a few yards behind and 

 above it. So far as could be judged, the prey was at his 

 mercy, but no attempt at a stoop was made, and when the 

 Teal reached the lake, and disappeared into it, the hawk 

 merely wheeled aloft and went on his way. " He must be 

 training the young 'uns to fly," laconically remarked the 

 keeper at my elbow, but beneath an assumed indifference, 

 I knew well he was regretting that he had only a stick in 

 his hand, and that the day was the Sabbath ! 



Peregrines are, however, very erratic in their ways at 

 times. On another Sunday afternoon I was sheltering with 

 the same man behind a large rock from an autumnal gale, 

 and at the same time watching the movements of quite a 

 collection of " vermin " on the face of an adjacent cliff. 

 This was " The Graig," and somewhere on the moor above 

 there was evidently a dead sheep, or some other attraction. 

 A pair of Crows were busy at it, and a pair of Ravens circled 

 overhead ; while a Magpie, in the wooded dingle below, had 

 evidently been there before, or was attracted to the feast by 

 the cawing of his confreres, for he gradually worked his 

 way by short flights from ledge to ledge up the face of the 

 cliff, 150 or 200 feet above the highest scrub. Arrived at 

 the summit, he sat a while, chattering, and flirting his tail 

 till it shone again in the sun. A Kestrel had unfledged young 

 ones still upon the clifF, and was noisily hovering about, 

 stooping first at one then at another of the intruders on her 

 domain. Of all the crowd the Magpie seemed to be the 

 most watchful, for the first indication that a Falcon was 

 approaching was his diving headlong, with almost closed 

 wings, to the cover of the trees he had so lately left, the 

 blue and purple reflections of his tail flashing in the sun, 

 like the track of some brilliant meteor, as he dropped. 

 Then the Crows rose noisily, and presently the Falcons, for 

 there was a pair of them, circled overhead. All the birds 

 seemed to recognise that the Falcons were in a dangerous 

 mood, for they all gave them a wide berth, except the 



