28 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



Temminck states that the male is 14 or 15 inches, and the female 

 16 or 21 inches. Swainson and Richardson give the measurements 

 of two birds from Melville peninsula as, male 14, female 18 inches. 

 Mr MacGrillivray, whose practical acquaintance with British birds 

 was extensive, states that the male is 1 6 \ inches, and the female 1 9| ; 

 but under the head " variations," he says that the males measure 

 from 16 to 18 inches, and females from 18 to 23. Among those 

 I have myself examined, I find the size of both sexes varies very 

 much. Compared with the Hebridean Peregrines, those of the 

 western mainland are in general but pigmies. Two very large 

 female birds are now before me; one was shot in Sutherland 

 in 1869, and forwarded to me by Mr Brown. In length it 

 is about 21 inches; wing from flexure 15 inches. The other, 

 which was shot in South Uist in March, 1869, and obligingly pre- 

 sented to me by Mr Alexander Carmichael of Lochmaddy, is the 

 largest Peregrine I have seen. It measures 22 J inches in length; 

 wing from flexure 1 6 inches. Some of the Skye Peregrines are 

 very powerful birds the males in many cases being larger than 

 females from other districts. Mr Brown tells me that he shot a 

 female off the nest in Sutherlandshire on 8th May, 1869, which 

 was no larger than an ordinary-sized male. With such variations 

 in the measurements of British specimens, it is surely rash to con- 

 clude that Falco anatum is entitled to rank as a separate species 

 on account of its superior size. The measurements given by 

 Audubon of American birds are, male 17 J inches in length, female 

 19J, while Mr Cassin's are in length from 18 to 20 inches, show- 

 ing, in fact, dimensions inferior to those of Scottish specimens. 

 As a rule, those taken on the western coasts of Scotland, 

 especially in the isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides, are much 

 the largest. 



In the first volume of Audubon's " Ornithological Biography," 

 the following note occurs at page 88 bearing on the question of 

 unity in the Peregrines of the old and new world, and it is interest- 

 ing as showing that occasional journeys may be undertaken by 

 these swift fliers from one country to another: "Once when 

 nearing the coast of England, being then about a hundred and 

 fifty miles distant from it, in the month of July I obtained a pair 

 of these birds which had come on board our vessel and had been 

 shot there. I examined them with care, and found no difference 

 between them and those which I had shot in America." A more 



