PEREGRINE FALCOX. 23 



FALCO PEREGRIXUS. 



PEREGRINE FALCON. 

 (PLATE 3.) 



Accipiter falco, Briss. Ont. i. p. 321 (1760). 



Accipiter falco peregrinus, Briss. Orn. i. p. 341 (1760). 



Falco gentilis, Linn. Syst. Xat. i. p. 126 (1706)*. 



Accipiter peregriims, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 55, pis. xxiii., xxiv. (1767) ; et 



auctoruni plurimorum (Latham}, (Temminck), (Naumann), (Gould), 



(GVrtyX (Hume), (Xeirton), (Dresser), &c. 

 Falco peregrinus, Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. 1 (1771). 

 Falco orientalis, Gm. Syst. Xaf. i. p. 264 (1788, ex Lath.). 

 Falco conimunis, Gm. Si/st. Xat. i. p. 270 (1788, e.r Buff.). 

 Falco calidus Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 41 (1790). 

 Falco lunulatu*. Daitd. Traite, ii. p. 122 (1800, ex Lath.). 

 Falco abietinus, Bech*t. Xaturg. Deutxchl. ii. p. 759 (1805). 

 Falco pinetarius. Steph. Share's Gen. Zool. vii. pt. i. p. 195 (1809). 

 Falco anaturu. Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. X. Am. p. 4 (1838, ex Audubon). 

 Falco micrurus, Hodgs. Grays Zool. Misc. p. 81 (1844). 

 Falco nigriceps, Cass. B. Calif, p. 87 (1855). 

 Falco brookii, Sharpe, Ann. Xat. Hist. xi. pp. 21, 222 (1873). 



The Peregrine Falcon is undoubtedly the commonest of the larger birds 

 of prey now found in the British Islands a bird noted for its marvellous 

 rapidity of movement and flight, its almost unequalled audacity and bold- 

 ness, and for the great reputation it bore in the days when falconry was a 

 favourite pursuit. Although slowly but surely becoming extinct in the 

 British Islands, the Peregrine still breeds in a few localities in England, 

 but is much commoner in Scotland and Ireland, where the wildness and 

 seclusion of the scenery afford it a safer and more suitable refuge. At 

 the present day the Peregrine breeds sparingly on the sea-girt cliffs of the 

 south coast from Cornwall to Kent, the rocky headlands of Wales, and 

 inland in several localities of Cumberland and Westmoreland ; but it is 

 most probable that the bird has now deserted the cliffs of the Yorkshire 

 coast for ever. In Scotland we find it becomes much more numerous, 

 most, if not all, the great bird-rocks and precipices being tenanted by a 



* There seems to be little doubt that the F. gentilis of Linnaeus is an immature Pere- 

 grine. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the Falcon Gentle of Albin, to -which he 

 refer?, is a Peregrine. Many of the Linnaean names (notably those of the Owls) admitted 

 by ornitholog^ts are much more doubtful and much less clearly denned. There are only 

 three logical ways of treating this question. If you do not reject the doubtful names 

 alluded to, or adopt the name of F. gentilis for the Peregrine, the only alternative is to 

 reject the laws of priority of publication and clear definition before they have still further 

 complicated and confused the study of ornithology. 



