264 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



for life, resorting year after year to one particular 

 cliff to breed, even though the nest be robbed 

 repeatedly. No actual nest is made, the three or 

 four eggs, laid in April or early May, resting in 

 some slight hollow in the soil, on an overhanging 

 ledge in the cliffs. They are creamy -white in 

 ground colour, thickly mottled, freckled, and clouded 

 with reddish-brown, brick-red, or orange-brown, of 

 various shades. When flushed from the nest, the 

 female becomes very noisy, and is soon joined by 

 the male, both then flying about in angry alarm, 

 dashing past the face of the cliff from time to time. 

 The Peregrine may be readily distinguished from 

 the other indigenous British Falcons by its superior 

 size. The upper parts are dark slate-gray, the 

 head and moustachial lines are black, the underparts 

 are buffish-white, spotted on the throat and breast, 

 and barred on the remainder with blackish-brown. 

 The Peregrine is distributed over most parts of the 

 world, but has been divided into several well- 

 marked forms or races. Two other Raptorial birds 

 may be met with on the coast one, the Kestrel, 

 commonly ; and the other, the Buzzard, locally. 



RAVEN. 



This species, the Corvus corax of naturalists, still 

 manages to survive, and is of tolerably common 

 occurrence in many localities. Formerly it was 

 commonly distributed over the inland districts, but 



