FALCO LABRADORUS. 189 



distended their clenched talons, looked into their mouths, and admired the 

 sharp tooth-like process of their upper mandible. I then weighed them in 

 my hand, and at length concluded that no Hawk that I had ever before 

 handled looked more like a Peregrine Falcon. 



" At day-dawn, the same party, highly elated with their success of the 

 former day, were despatched in quest of the other two ; but although a third 

 specimen was shot, it flew off^ to a great distance, fell among the deep moss, 

 and was never found. Several visits to the nest proved fruitless. The 

 parents I had; and the last young had probably for ever abandoned the 

 place of its birth. 



" While we remained in Labrador I was ever on the watch for Hawks ; 

 and I frequently inspected the country around with a telescope, to try if I 

 could discover some object worthy of my attention. I several times observed 

 the individuals which I have portrayed, ranging high in the air over an island 

 where multitudes of Puffins were breeding. Many were the instances in 

 w^hich I saw these warriors descend like a streak of lightning, pounce on a 

 Puffin, and carry it off in their talons. Their aerial course I also marked, 

 and was thus enabled to trace them to their habitation. 



" Their flight resembled that of the Peregrine Falcon, but was more 

 elevated, majestic, and rapid. They rarely sailed when travelling to and fro 

 between their nest and the island mentioned, but used a constant beat of 

 their wings. When over the Puffins, and high in the air, they would hover 

 motionless, as if watching the proper moment to close their pinions ; and 

 when that arrived, they would descend almost perpendicularly on their 

 unsuspecting victims. 



" Their cries also resembled those of the Peregrine Falcon, being loud, 

 shrill, and piercing. Now and then they would alight on some of the high 

 stakes placed on the shore as beacons to the fishermen who visit the coast, and 

 stand for a few minutes, not erect like most other Hawks, but in the position 

 of a Lestris or Tern ; after which they would resume their avocations, and 

 pounce upon a Puffin, which they generally did while the poor bird was 



