108 FA LCD PEREGRIN A TOE. 



chasm to a lower boulder, from which I could see almost every spot in the precipice ; but still no falcon. I then 

 shouted, and out shot three splendid fellows, which I missed with my first barrel ; but back they came, dashing 

 up to the rock, and not caring the least for my shot, when bang went the weapon, and down came a fine fellow 

 between two large rocks, where I judged him to be safe, and then fired several shots at impossible distances at 

 the other two, which wheeled and dashed round the summit of the hill in such a manner that I thought they 

 must be breeding. After a while the third bird made off, the second disappearing suddenly from the battle- 

 field. Thinking it was about time to pick up my dead bird, I made my way across and through the water to 

 the spot where I had dropped him, and to my extreme disgust found that he had fallen into a sluice, out 

 of which the first receding wave must have carried him. Not a sign of my prize anywhere; high and low I 

 searched, and at last gave up in despair, convinced that a monstrous blue rock-fish, with which the water 

 beneath the cliff swarmed, had long since polished him off ! On returning to the other side of the island, 

 where my companion was hungrily waiting breakfast, the first sight that greeted me was a magnificent winged 

 Shahin hanging by his knotted primaries to the branch of a tree. My companion (Major Sir John Campbell) 

 had dropped him as he shot past ; and hence his sudden disappearance from my side of the island." Elsewhere 

 in the lower country I have met with the Shahin in the Friars-Hood district, and at Yakkahatua mountain 

 near Avisawella ; and Captain Wade, 57th Regt., shot a fine adult specimen at Tissa-Wewa Tank, near Anarad- 

 japura, in December 1875. In the hill-zone it is more often seen, and no doubt breeds in the mountains. I 

 killed an old male at the top of the celebrated Yakka rock, Hewahette, in May 1870, and in the following 

 month Mr. Bligh procured another in Haputale. During the same season a young bird, which I saw after- 

 wards alive in the possession of Messrs. Whyte and Co., was caught in the act of dashing at some pigeons near 

 Kandy. I have seen it on the Alagalla Peak, in the precipices of which I have reason to believe it nests. 



This Falcon was first described by Sundevall from a specimen which settled on the vessel he was sailing 

 in, " in lat. 6° 20* N., between Ceylon and Sumatra, rather nearer the last-named island, and at least 70 Swedish 

 miles from the nearest land, viz. the Nicobar Islands." From what follows in the Professor's remarks on this 

 occurrence, he was of opinion that it was either Hying to or from Sumatra. It has not, however, been discri- 

 minated from that island; and it is more probable that the specimen in question was on its way to or from the 

 Nicobar Islands, but where also it has not been found up to the present time. It is said by Jerdon to be 

 found " throughout the whole of India, from the Himalayas to the extreme south, extending into Afghanistan 

 and Western Asia." As regards the two latter regions I imagine that it has been here confounded with 

 another species, as the bird does not appear to extend beyond the confines of the Indian empire, and the northern 

 race, inhabiting even the Himalayas, is separated as F. atriceps by Mr. Hume. I have, however, examined 

 individuals in the National Collection from Nepaul, and they are not separable from Ceylonese specimens. It 

 is more often found in Central than Upper India, and is more frequent still in the South, inhabiting the 

 Nilghiris and bleeding there. In the Carnatic it is seldom met with ; but in the Eastern Ghauts it is tolerably 

 common, according to Jerdon, breeding there, and migrating in the young stage to the former locality. As 

 this writer has stated, it is no doubt far from being a common bird, confining itself to forest-clad districts. I 

 observe that it is not mentioned in Mr. Fairbanks list of birds from the Palani Hills, nor in Mr. Bourdillon's 

 from Travancore, although Jerdon shot it in the latter district. Col. Tickell states that it is a commoner 

 species in Bur m ah than in India, and that he frequently observed it on the sea-side at Amherst. It must be 

 local, however, in Burmah, as I do not find it recorded thence by any of the naturalists whose work has 

 been described of late years in ' Stray Feathers/ With regard to the specimens of this Falcon said to have 

 been procured at sea in the Indian Ocean, I have to remark that the bird mentioned by Mr. Whyte (Ibis, 

 1877, p. 1 19) as being captured in the Gulf of Socotra, and belonging to the present species, has eventually 

 proved to be "a Common Peregrine ; and I am strongly of opinion that the source to which the presence of 

 another (mentioned in a footnote, ' Stray Feathers,' 1877, p. 502, as being procured in 1833 on board ship 

 between .Mauritius and Madagascar) might be traced is that which has led to many mistakes in "distribu- 

 tion," viz. an escape from a state of confinement. 



Habits. — In Ceylon the Indian Peregrine frequents lofty mountain-precipices or inaccessible cliffs on the 

 sea-coast. It is an excessively shy bird, retiring when not engaged in the pursuit of its quarry to sequestered 

 hdges, and easily escapes all notice, unless observed to fly towards its retreat. It is as bold and courageous 



