ICO THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



adult Greenlanrl Falcon by Mr. J. H. Giirney (Zool. 1883, p. 80). By a 

 curious coincidence it is not at all unlikely that this same Falcon was seen 

 hy Mr. Henry Swaysland, Jnr., in the previous June, near llousdon, 

 Lyme Eegis, the scat of 8ir Henry Peek, Bart., ^M.P. Mr. Swaysland 

 saw a "White Falcon sitting on the cliffs, and approached it within a distance 

 of thirty yards. It had been observed about Rousdon for some two 

 months previously (Zool. 1SS;:5, ]). 34). 



" The Gyr-Falcon, Falco I.slayidinis,'" is mentioned amongst " occasional 

 visitors "in a list of Lundy Island Birds (Trans. Dev. Assoc, viii. p. 308). 

 Probably the Greenland Falcon shot by Mr. AVathen, when AVoodcock- 

 shooting there, was the foundation for tliis statement. 



This bird, it is now known, occurs not unfrequently on the east coast of 

 Ireland, and is therefore not at all unlikely to visit Lundy Island and the 

 Devonshire coast occasionally. 



[Ohservation. —There is a fine example of the Greenland Falcon in the National Col- 

 lection at South Kensington, whioii was sliot many vears ao;o in one ot Lord Cawdor's 

 covers at Stackjiole, in Pembrokeshire ("Zoologist,' IS.^O, p. 2f'>39). It had been observed 

 bv one of the kee]iers for eiglit or ten days before be succeeded in shooting it, and each 

 day bad killed and jwrtly devoured a cock Pheasant. It was very shy, always perching 

 on some rocky eminence, so that it was difficult to get at, and was finally surprised and 

 shot as it was rising from a freshly killed Pheasant, This is the bird figured in 

 Yarrell.] 



Peregrine Falcon. Falco i^eregrinus, Tunstall. 



[Cliff-Hawk, Blue Hawk.] 



Besident, and not unfrequently met with throughout the county, espe- 

 cially on the sea-coast. We have fouud notices of more than fifty specimens 

 which have been obtained in the county since 1853, and many others have 

 been killed which have not been recorded. The Peregrine Falcon breeds 

 in several places on the cliffs of both tlie north and south coasts, and on 

 Lundy Island. 



A pair have bred for many years on the cliffs at Wemburj-, near Plymouth 

 (B. A. J., 'Naturalist,' 18.32, p. 117; J. G., Zool. 1877, p. 280; 1885, 

 p. 22) ; others have bred at Watcombe, near Torquay, and at the Start 

 Point (A. von H., Zool. 1860, p. 1846). Peregrine Falcons are believed 

 to breed about the Bolt Head (R. P. N., MS. Xotes) ; as well as at 

 Sidmouth and llousdon (Zool. 1SS4, p. 35). 



"We have examined many specimens of this bird, and have almost 

 invariably fouud them much infested by the parasitical worm, Filaria 

 attcnuata, deeply imbedded, and twisted up in the membranes, between the 

 ribs and the liver, and even penetrating the substance of the liver itself. 

 A fine female shot near Exeter, April 3rd, 1883, thus infested, was fat, 

 and weighed 3 lb. 1| oz. 



The Peregrine Falcon, the noblest of our English raptorial birds, is 

 peculiarly a denizen of the coast, and is rarely found far inland. For this 

 reason it is sometimes called the Cliff-Hawk. It is not uncommon along 

 the whole seaboard of the South-western Counties, and the Peregrines of 



