9666 Birds. 



The fishermen call the peregrine the " falconer," or, as they pronounce 

 it, in their broad Dorset dialect, "farkener" : they are well aware of 

 the price which is set upon it by collectors and local keepers, and 

 never fail to rob the nest when an opportunity occurs, so that it is 

 almost surprising that any of these birds slill remain in the cliffs. On 

 the 28th of May we walked westward in the direction of Weymouth, 

 and while standing on the summit of Bat's Head, one of the most per- 

 pendicular of the range of cliffs, a magnificent old peregrine dashed 

 out from below, and passed so close to us that we could hardly have 

 obtained a better view had the bird been in confinement : had I wished 

 for a shot I could not have had a finer opportunity ; but shooting on 

 that occasion was not ray object, and my maxim is, " If you do not 

 want a bird for some useful purpose, why kill it for the mere sake of 

 shooting?" I was anxious to see this bird in its wild state, and try 

 to learn something of its actions and habits : on the present occasion, 

 however, we had appeared too suddenly to witness anything more than 

 its extraordinary powers of flight. With one stroke of its wings it had 

 sped far out of shot, and we watched it through our glasses till its 

 steel-blue back and jet-black cheeks could be no longer discerned in 

 the distance. We were anxious to learn, from actual observation, if 

 possible, whether the peregrine makes any nest, and we ascertained 

 that the bird usually selects a ledge under an over-hanging portion of 

 the cliff, and, scraping away the loose grit, deposits four eggs in a 

 slight hollow. Before our arrival at Lulworth a nest had been dis- 

 covered, containing three young birds and an addled egg: these were 

 taken, and as soon as we could discover the owner of the egg, I had 

 little difficulty in inducing him to part with it : although it is by no 

 means a good specimen, and is pale in colour, it is nevertheless of far 

 greater interest and value to me than any rich-coloured specimen 

 1 could purchase from a dealer, from the fact of my having seen the 

 nest, and witnessed the risk which is always attendant upon taking an 

 egg from the cliffs. 



Kestrel and Sparrowhawk. — The fishermen assert that three species 

 of small hawks inhabit the cliffs, which they call respectively the 

 "windhover," "vanner" and "sparrowhawk," but I incline to think 

 that the two first names must be referred to the kestrel in different 

 states of plumage, or perhaps to the male and female of that bird. We 

 observed both kestrel and sparrowhawk among the cliffs, the former 

 bird by far the commoner, but we failed to discover any third species. 

 On mentioning the subject one day to a local keeper, he expressed so 

 strong an opinion that there were three species that 1 began to think 



