BIRDS OF PREY. 21 



much gratification ; its large size, its graceful manner of 

 hovering over the water when on the look-out for its 

 prey, and the astonishing rapidity of its plunge when 

 darting on its victim, rendering it a conspicuous object. 

 It then to my great regret took its departure, doubtless 

 alarmed at the attacks of the keepers, who viewed its 

 successful forays with little favour. The other was 

 shot by a keeper on Welbeck Lake a few years 

 before. 



Foremost among the typical falcons I am glad to 

 include the noble Peregrine (Falco peregrinus), the 

 very perfection of a bird. 



By the uninitiated observer in most rural districts, all 

 large birds of this kind are classed under the cognomen 

 of " hawks," without discriminating one species from 

 another. The falcons, the buzzards, and the harriers 

 are all undistinguished from each other by country 

 people when seen in the air ; and I am induced to 

 believe that the peregrine is a far more frequent denizen 

 of our forest than is generally supposed, for I have noted 

 the occurrence of four individuals in the course of five 

 years. Of course they do not breed with us, for we 

 have none of the cliffs and headlands on which it 

 delights to place its eyrie, but a flight of a few hundred 

 miles is nothing to a bird whose speed rivals or excels 

 the best efforts of the locomotive, and a journey to or 

 from its distant home is soon performed. The keepers 

 say they know it, and call it the " blue hawk," although 

 the male of the hen harrier is generally known by this 

 name ; but it is so much more frequent than the latter 

 species, and differs so greatly in its flight and general 

 appearance on the wing, that few who really knew the 

 two could mistake them ; yet, strange to say, with all 



