STEENGTH OF THE PEEEGEINE FALCON. 



71 



attachment to its owner, and even while flying at perfect liberty will single him out from 

 a large company, fly voluntarily towards him, and perch lovingly on his hand or shoulder. 

 Several of these beautiful birds that had been tamed by Mr. Sinclair were so tho- 

 roughly domesticated that they were permitted to range at liberty, and were generally 

 accustomed to perch on a tree near the house. One of these Falcons was permitted to 

 seek her own food whenever she could not find any meat upon the accustomed spot, and 

 would take flights of several miles in extent. Yet she would immediately recognise her 

 master if he were out shooting, and would aid him by striking down the grouse as they 

 rose before his dogs. On one occasion the fearless bird met with an accident which might 

 have proved fatal, but was ulti- 

 mately found to be of little con- 

 sequence. Unaware of the pre- 

 sence of his Falcon, her master 

 fired at a grouse, and as the bird 

 was at the same moment making 

 a " stoop " upon the bird, one of 

 the leaden pellets struck the Fal- 

 con, and inflicted a slight wound. 



The dash and fury with which 

 this hawk makes its stoop is almost 

 incredible. In a little coast town 

 in Yorkshire, a part of a green- 

 house had been divided off by 

 wire so as to form an aviary, the 

 roof of the aviary being the glass 

 tiling of the greenhouse. In this 

 edifice were placed a number of 

 small birds, which attracted the 

 attention of a Peregrine Falcon 

 that was passing overhead. Totally 

 unmindful of all obstacles, he shot 

 crashing through the glass without 

 injuring himself in the least, seized 

 one of the terrified birds, and 

 carried it off in safety. Several 

 other birds were found dead, ap- 

 parently from fright, or perhaps 

 by the shock of the hawk and 

 glass which came flying among 

 their number. 



It is said that when the Pere- 

 grine Falcon takes up its residence 

 near the moors it is a very mis- 

 chievous neighbour, slaughtering 

 annually great numbers of grouse. 

 Although very fond of pigeons 

 and similar game, the Peregrine 

 Falcon seems to have sufiicient 

 sporting spirit to prefer the grouse 

 to the pigeon, and never to trouble 



itself about the former bird as long as it has a chance of obtaining one of the latter. 

 A correspondent of the Field newspaper speaks very strongly on this subject, in 

 answer to those who wished that so noble a bird as the Peregrine Falcon should be 

 spared by the proprietors of moors and other preserves. From observations which have 

 3xtended over a long series of years, he has come to the conclusion that a single nest of 

 Peregrine Falcons will destroy in a single season nearly three hundred brace of grouse 



PEREGRINE FALCON.— Faico peregrinus. 



