The Zoologist— January, 1871. 2425 



flyuig around, under the eye of thai angel of death ; but the rock 

 birds know no fear when they have eggs, — they only see the one 

 dear spot and fly straight home, sometimes within a few feet of 

 that terrible enemy. Shouting at the top of my voice, the sound 

 echoes in the chasm and rouses the peregrine, who, fiercer than the 

 tercel, dashes about, wildly screaming; then, hovering in the misty 

 air by the side of her mate, her superior size is seen. The nest is 

 on a grassy ledge about two feet wide, merely a very few morsels 

 of heather-twigs, containing one egg besides the unfledged bird : 

 the young one crawls about the ledge, but seems to be quite aware 

 of the danger of falling, as it shrinks back beside the egg again, 

 cowering down, and seems to feel the absence of his mother's 

 wing. I am surprised at the rock birds flying close to their dreaded 

 foe, as they hang quivering their wings above the opposite preci- 

 pices : the kittiwakes, razorbills and guillemots fly within a few 

 feet, and, greatly to ray astonishment, two or three pairs of 

 razorbills are sitting on eggs within ten yards of the nest, the 

 razorbills flying off" and on while the peregrines are hatching or 

 resting. The tercel seems to lake its quarry at some little distance, 

 and not to disturb the birds in the immediate vicinit}'. Its habit 

 of swooping on its quarry from above, perhaps, makes the sitting 

 birds less afraid of it, as it would not take birds while sitting on 

 the cliffs, but only when they are flying. The same pair of pere- 

 grines have bred on Sloch-na-page for several years: they arrive 

 soon after the rock birds in April, and leave in August. Each of 

 the neighbouring islands, Mingalay, Pahba and Muldonich, has also 

 its pair of peregrines. 



After breakfast, as I am covetous of that peregrine's egg, Mac 

 and 1 take off" our boots and creep along the ridge, and cautiously 

 descend, my brother, on the opposite side, directing ns to the right 

 spot, a very narrow ledge of slippery grass, with nothing but the 

 yawning chasm below us. Mac leads the way, having often 

 traversed it in v.inter to succour his sheep, as when the snow is on 

 the ground they stray on these ledges in search of the grass, and, 

 not being able to get back again, often perish. Suddenly the tercel 

 dashes out from the cliff" as wc come into sight, and his warnin" 

 and eager cry alarms the female, who, directly she sees us, darts 

 off'just overhead, then with screams of rage she passes backwards 

 and forwards, almost grazing our heads. A few yards more bring 

 us to her larder, where, in a hollow, are bones and feathers in 



