52 Contributions to the 



were becoming bare from the ebbing of the tide, they were literally 

 covered with dunlins (Tringa variabilis) and some ringed plovers 

 (Charadrius hiaticula) intermixed, all busily feeding on the rejecta- 

 menta of the waves. This flock, consisting of many hundreds, to my 

 surprise, suddenly, and without any apparent cause of alarm, took 

 wing, but immediately afterwards I observed a peregrine falcon bear- 

 ing down upon them. As they flew out to sea he followed them only 

 a short way above the water, and returning without any prey, after 

 a few bold and graceful sweeps, alighted on the beach they had left, 

 when, with the aid of a pocket-telescope, I had the satisfaction of 

 identifying his species with certainty. Again, on July the 13th 

 1833, when crossing the ferry near the junction of the river Bann 

 with the ocean, I was attracted by the near call of a curlew, and on 

 looking round, saw coming towards us what at first appeared to be 

 two of these birds, flying close together just above the water. I was 

 surprised to see the foremost dip in the river like a swallow, fly on 

 a short way, and then alight in it, when the other bird, which proved 

 to be a preregrine falcon, gave up the chase, and, flying past us, 

 alighted on the beach at some distance. The curlew now finding 

 it was safe, rose from the water, and flew back in the direction from 

 which it had been pursued. 



In the autumn and winter I have in Ireland met the preregrine 

 falcon very far remote from any of its native rocks. In the south 

 of Europe it is, according to Risso,* a bird of passage, appearing in 

 the autumn and departing in the spring. 



Some of our northern eyries have, for about the last twenty-five 

 vears, been in requisition annually to supply difl'erent sportsmen, 

 but chiefly my friend, John Sinclaire, Esq. with falcons for the chase.t 

 Woodcocks have always afibrded the best flights with these birds, 

 and in this exciting sport I have often witnessed that singular trait 

 in their character, of leaving their quarry the moment it takes to 

 cover.i In this way I recollect what promised to be a good chase, 

 being at once terminated by the woodcock's descent close to a pub- 

 lic road, and as it could not be again sprung, another had to be 

 sought for. V/hen returning home, however, about six hours after- 



* Tom. iii. p. 26. ed. 1820. 



•f Mr Sinclaire tells me that, on going to obtain these hawks, he has frequently 

 remarked the tercel or male bird circling at a great height in the air, from which 

 he dropped his prey to the female as she kept flying about and screaming in the 

 vicinity of the nest, to which she bore it. 



I Mr Sinclaire's best falcon the first year pursued woodcocks into dense cover, 

 so that it was difficult to get her out with safety to her plumage. This his fal- 

 cons or female birds generally did the first year, but very rarely afterwards. 



