300 PEREGRINE FALCON. 



thick and brawny ; and its legs remarkably short 

 and well-set : the feet were armed with most 

 formidable, sharp, long talons : the eyelids and 

 cere of the bill were yellow ; but the irides of 

 the eyes dusky ; the beak was thick and hooked, 

 and of a dark colour, and had a jagged process 

 near the end of the upper mandible on each 

 side ; its tail, or train, was short in proportion to 

 the bulk of its body ; yet the wings, when closed, 

 did not extend to the end of the train. From 

 its large and fair proportions, it might be supposed 

 to have been a female ; but I was not permitted 

 to cut open the specimen. For one of the birds 

 of prey, which are usually lean, this was in high 

 case : in its craw were many barley-corns, which 

 probably came from the crop of the wood-pigeon, 

 on which it was feeding when shot : for voracious 

 birds do not eat grain ; but, when devouring 

 their quarry, with undistinguishing vehemence, 

 swallow bones and feathers, and all matters, 

 indiscriminately *. This falcon was probably 

 driven from the mountains of North Wales or 

 Scotland, where they are known to breed, by 

 rigorous weather and deep snows that had lately 

 fallen. 



1 The bones and feathers are swallowed naturally, and 

 assist to promote the digestion. The Abbe Spallanzani, in 

 his experiments on various birds and animals, by changing 

 gradually the food, at last brought some of the falcons to live 

 on a vegetable diet ; and, as a reverse, fed a pigeon upon 

 animal substances proving, that by degrees the natural food 

 of an animal may be changed, for a time at least, without 

 harm. W. J. 



