216 PRESER VATION OF FALCONS 



grouse, both in the Highlands and in Yorkshire, the 

 subject has begun to be recognised and better under- 

 stood ; and it is now admitted that the dearth of 

 falcons, eagles, etc., and the over-driving of moors, 

 has been the cause. If all proprietors of shootings 

 would but put a stop to this mistaken destruction of 

 eagles and falcons, they would ere long see the good 

 effects of their prohibition manifest itself, by birds 

 being as easily approachable as in former years, and 

 the use of dogs later in the season more practicable. 



It is, believe me, no easy task to convince some 

 people of this fact, especially those who delight in 

 making big bags ; but I have nevertheless proved that 

 the preservation of the peregrine falcon is of the very 

 greatest benefit on moors where the birds have been 

 wild, and no artificial method has the same lasting 

 effect, but rather, I may say, the reverse ; for a few 

 trials with such inventions as the hawk-kite, etc., 

 not only fail to make the birds lie, but succeed in 

 scaring them off the ground altogether, perhaps for 

 good and all. Indeed, I have known this to be the 

 case when the artificial kite has been used on grouse, 

 partridge, and snipe. On the other hand, when real 

 falcons have been Hown over grouse I have seen the 

 birds run out of the heather and feed seven minutes 

 after the falcon has been taken in. It stands to reason 

 that the natural birds of prey can visit every moor, 

 therefore the birds do not fly away from the cover 

 where they are safe, because the falcon only strikes in 

 the air, and they are safer thus lying close than risking 

 a flight to a spot in which they would be no more 

 secure than where they are ; but the unnatural appear- 

 ance of the artificial kite frio^htens them away for miles, 



