18 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



observers may have been the means of revealing 

 to the public the precise situation of the breeding 

 place of a pair or so in most of our maritime 

 counties, but nevertheless its existence was well 

 known from time immemorial to the neighbour- 

 ing inhabitants, and the traveller will always 

 find, on prosecuting his inquiries, that the bird 

 is honoured with some provincial title which 

 has generally a direct reference to his prowess, 

 the species on which he preys, his powers of 

 flight, or to the locality itself. During my own 

 wanderings I have invariably found this to be 

 the case. I have seen peregrines at their eyries 

 in Sussex, in the Isle of Wight, in Devonshire, 

 on several parts of the coasts of North and 

 South Wales, and in similar situations on the 

 north-west, and south-west of Ireland ; and 

 although in some of the more remote of these 

 places I might have occasionally flattered myself 

 that I was the first actual discoverer of the fact, 

 yet an ornithological chat with the natives was 

 always sure to dispel the pleasing illusion. I 

 found that the circumstance of the peregrine 

 being established in their neighbourhood, and 

 even the exact situation of the eyrie was well 

 known to them, and the tradition of its having 

 been similarly occupied in bygone times regu- 

 larly handed down from their ancestors ; and that 



