PEREGRINE. 73 



simple but ingenious mode of catching the young of these 

 other Hawks, is mentioned by Charles St. John, Esq., in 



A 



and 



his entertaining 'Tour in Sutherlandshire.' A cap or 'bonnet' 

 is lowered 'over the border' of the cliff, down upon the nest; 

 the young birds strike at, and stick their claws into it, and 

 are incontinently hauled up in triumph. 



The eggs are two, three, four, or, though but rarely, five 

 in number, and rather inclining to rotundity of form. Their 

 ground colour is light russet red, which is elegantly marbled 

 over with darker shades patches and streaks of the same. 

 As many as four young have been taken from one nest. When 

 this is the case, one is generally much smaller than the rest. 

 In one instance, however, all four were of equal size; and, 

 moreover, which is still more unusual, and perhaps accounts 

 for the fact just mentioned, all females a proportion being 

 generally preserved. Incubation lasts three weeks. 



The Peregrine varies more in size than perhaps any other 

 bird of prey; sometimes it is nearly equal to the Jer-Falcon. 

 It varies also in colour, but the band on the sides of the 

 throat is a permanent characteristic. Its whole plumage is 

 close and compact; more so than that of any other British 

 species of Hawk. It is a stout and strong-looking bird. 



Male; length, from fifteen to eighteen or twenty inches; 

 bill, bluish black at the tip, and pale blue at the base; cere, 

 dull yellowish; iris, dark hazel brown; the feathers between 

 the bill and the eye are of a bristly character; head, bluish 

 black, sometimes greyish black, and sometimes brownish black; 

 neck, bluish black behind, more or less white in front, in some 

 specimens with, and in others without spots: a dark streak 

 from the mouth, often called the moustache, divides it; chin 

 and throat, white or pale buff colour; breast, white, cream 

 white, or rufous white, mottled with spots and streaks; the 

 sides, ash grey, lined lengthways, and barred across with dark 

 brown; back, deep bluish grey or slate colour, shaded off into 

 ash grey, and more or less clearly barred with greyish black: 

 some specimens are darker, and others lighter, according to 

 age. 



The wings are very long and pointed, extending when closed 

 to within half an inch of the end of the tail: the second 

 quill is the longest, and the first nearly as long, the third a 

 little shorter; greater and lesser wing coverts, bluish grey, 

 barred as the back; primaries and secondaries, dark ash-coloured 

 brown, barred on the inner webs with lighter and darker spots, 



