28 BRITISH BIRDS. 



landed than a couple of Peregrines showed me their nest by their loud 

 cries. A glance at the cliffs decided the place where the nest ought to be, 

 on the top of a steep mud promontory, which stretched out to a sharp 

 ridge beyond and above the surrounding coast, and which was conspicuous 

 by its greenness. I climbed up a valley in which the snow was still lying, 

 and walked straight along the ridge to the little hollow, where the four red 

 eggs were placed upon a dozen small flakes of down. These eggs were 

 considerably incubated. 



The eggs of the Peregrine Falcon vary from two to four in number. 

 The ground-colour of the egg when exposed is a pale yellowish white, and 

 the markings vary from brick-red and orange-brown to rich reddish brown. 

 Many of the eggs are often suffused with a beautiful purplish tint, which 

 is seen, but more rarely, on the eggs of the Kestrel. Peregrine Falcons' 

 eggs vary considerably in size and form, some being much elongated, others 

 almost globular. They vary in length from 2'15 to 1*95 inches, and in 

 breadth from 1*75 to 1*52 inch. The specimen figured may be taken as 

 a fairly typical egg of this species. 



Time was when the noble Peregrines lived as favoured birds, the company 

 and amusement of kings and princes, being trained for the chase. The 

 female bird was always known as the Falcon, the male as the Tiercel ; and 

 from her marked docility she was not unfrequently called the Gentil or 

 Gentle Falcon. Then the Peregrine was under man's protection, and 

 penalties were inflicted on him who molested or destroyed it. But the 

 days of hawking have long waned ; and the Peregrine, once so favoured, 

 is now open to an incessant persecution, which bids fair to exterminate it 

 from our land. This persecution, which is continually being waged against 

 all our raptorial birds, is slowly but surely doing its work. The Peregrine 

 in its sea-girt fortress will be one of the last Falcons to disappear before 

 it ; but the time will soon be when each noted eyrie will but exist in an 

 empty name. The Heron was the favourite bird of chase for the Falcon, 

 the sport usually taking place as the birds went to and from the streams to 

 the heronry. Sir John Sebright, in his ' Observations on Hawking/ gives 

 the following particulars respecting this peculiar sport : 



<c The Herons go out in the morning to rivers and ponds at a very con- 

 siderable distance in search of food, and return to the heronry towards the 

 evening. It is at this time that the falconers place themselves in the open 

 country, down wind of the heronry, so that when the Herons are inter- 

 cepted on their return home, they are obliged to fly against the wind to 

 gain their place of retreat. When a Heron passes, a cast (a couple) of 

 Hawks is let go. The Heron disgorges his food when he finds that he 

 is pursued, and endeavours to keep above the Hawks by rising in the air ; 

 the Hawks fly in a spiral direction to get above the Heron; and thus the three 

 birds frequently appear to be flying in different directions. The first Hawk 



