Birds.  @att 
these in a different manner. I have seen it leisurely follow a rabbit, 
and then drop quietly upon it, in much the same manner as an owl 
drops down upon a mouse. There was no terrific swoop, and no long, 
gaping wound inflicted upon the unfortunate prey, yet all this becomes 
necessary when the victim happens to be a bird, driven by terror to its 
utmost speed. But it does not follow that because one single observer 
has never seen the peregrine strike its prey upon the ground, such a 
circumstance never occurs; therefore the matter must remain un- 
decided in my mind until some kind reader favours me with the result 
of his own experience. Once, while I was walking in this neighbour- 
hood, I heard a sudden rushing over my head ; a tame pigeon appeared 
before me for a moment, and, like a flash of lightning, a peregrine 
struck it and sailed off. The ill-fated pigeon fell dying to the ground, 
and on picking it up I found a deep gash extending from the rump to 
the shoulders. Several times, after a pigeon has been struck I have 
noticed that the head was nearly torn off. Of the unwillingness of 
the peregrine to strike a bird in the water I was once witness to a well- 
marked instance. On the 9th of January, 1861, I was crossing the 
marsh at the head of the Loch of Cliff, when my attention was attracted 
by the struggles of two large birds upon the ground, about a couple of 
hundred yards distant. I immediately hastened towards the spot, when 
one of the birds, a peregrine, skimmed hastily away, and soon after- 
wards the other bird, which proved to be a wild duck, flew heavily for 
some distance up the deep burn which feeds the loch, and alighted in 
the water. It appeared to have suffered such injury that, thinking 
I should be able to catch it, I followed it up. Upon my approach it 
rose upon the wing, and began to follow the course of the burn, 
keeping about ten feet from the surface. Very soon there was a 
rushing sound overhead, down came the peregrine with the swiftness 
of an arrow, and the duck was only just in time to save itself by drop- 
ping hurriedly into the water, leaving its enemy to dash about fiercely 
far above, for the peregrine rose to a considerable height the moment 
it missed the stroke. Again and again I put up the duck, and each 
time with a precisely similar result, the peregrine making a dash at the 
poor persecuted bird every time it rose, and the latter as regularly 
avoiding the stroke by dropping into the water, where it was allowed 
to sit in perfect safety. At length the duck becoming much fatigued, 
concealed itself beneath some overhanging weeds at the edge of the 
bank, from whence it no doubt beheld the departure of its two enemies 
with great satisfaction. The boldness of the peregrine astonished me 
not a little; in its eagerness for the chase it became utterly regardless 
