144 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



mnubers, within a few feet ; Puffins, Kestrel, Raven, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Red- 

 legged Crow, Great Black-backed Gull, (one nest), Lesser Black-backed Gull, 

 (several nests), Herring Gull, common, Kittiwakes, in thousands. Common and 

 Green Conuorants, Swifts, aud Sand-Martins ; and yet not one of them showed 

 an}^ signs of alarm at the approach of so formidable a foe. I do not recollect a 

 nest where the Herring-Gulls, Guillemots, Razorbills, and Puffins were not 

 abundant. The old birds give plenty of notice by their harsh cry when you are 

 near their nest, and it is not difficult to find the spot, the same old arched cavity 

 being occupied eveiy 3-ear. In one instance eleven pairs of Herons were breeding 

 on the ledges of the rocks within 150 yards of the nest of the Peregrine Falcon." 



The eggs are four, five, sometimes six in number, varying much in colour, 

 some are ver^^ handsomely marked ; the ground colour is pale reddish yellow on 

 which are brick red, orange red, or reddish-black markings ; some are thickly 

 spotted all over with brick red on a lighter red ground, resembling typical eggs 

 of the Kestrel ; in shape, some are suboval, others more elongate ; they measure 

 from 2'i5 to i"95 inches, by from i"75 to i"52 inches. Occasionally a super- 

 imposed blotch and streak of lime is found upon the colouring of the egg, as in 

 the egg figured, No. 322 ; this is a characteristic with the eggs of the Falconidse, 

 and may be also noticed in the Kestrel's egg, fig. 332. 



In old times the Peregrine was trained and flown at the Heron, young birds 

 caught on passage being emplo3'ed. In modern days good sport is often had 

 Rook-hawking, but it can only be enjoyed in an open unenclosed country ; Mag- 

 pies, too, afford a good quarry, the attendants on the sport cracking their whips 

 and driving Master Mag out of any thick bush in which he maj' harbour. In 

 captivit}' the Peregrine is remarkably docile ; to be kept in health it must be 

 supplied with plenty of water to bathe in. When trained birds are being flown 

 the}^ commonly make off at first for the nearest water, and after a bath will return 

 to the liire. A pair of Peregrines that for many years kept in perfect health and 

 plumage in the aviary of a friend of the writer's, had a small stream of water 

 running through it that supplied their daily baths. These birds were wonderfully 

 expert in killing rats ; it was a great amusement for the men working on the 

 estate to capture rats for them and, bringing them to the aviary, to see how they 

 would be killed b}' a lightning stroke from one of the Falcons. But these noble 

 birds are very liable to fits ; too often the falconer visits his favourites to find 

 one of the best lying dead b}^ the side of its block ; they also suffer much from 

 parasites, both in the feathers and in the intestines. 



The Peregrine has many local names : Cliff Hawk ; Game Hawk ; Hunting 

 Hawk ; Blue Hawk ; while in Scotland it is frequently called the Goshawk. 



