90 'ACCIPITRES. 



lead of all the falcons. It is bred in the crags of the polar 

 rocks, and is tempered to the fitful and furious blasts which 

 rage occasionally in countries near the ice, and its native 

 pastures are but thinly stocked ; but a partridge on a warm 

 and sheltered farm, or a pheasant in a judiciously situated 

 preserve, is not better adapted for finding its food, than the 

 jer-falcon is in the wastes of Iceland. 



It has not been positively ascertained that the jer-falcon 

 breeds in any part of the British islands, neither can the fact 

 of its so breeding be denied, because, in all places, its nest is 

 situated so high among the crags of the rocks, that it is 

 difficult to be seen, and still more difficult to be reached. 

 But if it does not breed there, it pays occasional visits to the 

 northern and western isles, more especially to those places of 

 them that abound with rock-doves ; and few sights can be 

 finer than that of the jer-falcon driving through a flock of 

 these. When the falcon comes within sight of her prey, she 

 bounds upwards, every stroke of the wings producing a per- 

 pendicular leap, as if she were climbing those giant stairs into 

 which nature moulds the basaltic rocks ; and when she has 

 "got the sky" of her prey to a sufficient height for gaining 

 the necessary impetus, her wings shiver for a moment as she 

 works herself into perfect command and poise, and to the 

 full extent of her energy. Then, prone she dashes, with so 

 much velocity, that the impression of her path remains on 

 the eye, in the same manner as that of the shooting meteor 

 or the flashing lightning, and you fancy that there is a 

 torrent of falcon rushing for fathoms through the air. The 

 stroke is as unerring as the motion is fleet. If it take effect 

 in the body, the bird is trussed and the hunt is over ; but if 

 a wing only is broken, the maimed bird is allowed to flutter 

 to the earth, and another is marked out for the collision of 

 death. It sometimes happens that the mountain crow comes 

 in for the wounded game ; but in order to do so, it must 



