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and Wood-Pigeons. I saw one, a fine adult male, shot whilst in pursuit of a Fieldfare, and 

 once witnessed a fine flight by a Peregrine after a Starling high in air : after eight unsuccessful 

 stoops the Starling was clutched and carried off to the topmost bough of a very high ash tree, 

 where in less than two minutes the captor was robbed of his prey by another bird of his own 

 species. Often when exercising my trained Falcons in this immediate neighbourhood, a wild 

 one has come to look on, and my falconer has twice taken immature Falcons here with the 

 bow net and Pigeon, aided by an Ash-coloured Shrike (L. eoccubitor), in the manner so graphically 

 described in Freeman and Salvin's ' Falconry,' p. 97. To cite instances of the capture and 

 slaughter of this fine species in this county would be tedious and unnecessary ; suffice it to say 

 that I consider it the most common of our diurnal Raptores, with the exception of the common 

 Kestrel. I have met with the Peregrine in every county of England, Wales, Scotland, and 

 Ireland that I have visited in the autumn and winter, and one summer, not many years ago, 

 had offers of young Peregrines from no less than nine eyries in various parts of Great Britain ; 

 so that I have every reason to believe that there is no fear of, at all events, a speedy extinction 

 of this species." On the east coast of England it is met with almost only during passage. 

 Mr. Stevenson says that he knows no recent instance of its breeding in Norfolk, though, 

 according to Mr. Cordeaux, it " nests at Flamborough, and there were two eyries of the 

 Peregrine on the Speeton cliffs, on the north side of the headland, in the summer of 1867." 

 In Scotland it still occurs, not uncommonly, and is tolerably widely distributed. Mr. Robert 

 Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 23) as follows: — "Although subjected to an extraordinary 

 amount of persecution, this beautiful Falcon maintains a good hold throughout those districts 

 in which it has been well known for centuries, and may still be called a common bird in many 

 districts of Western Scotland, ranging from Burrow Head to Cape Wrath. 



" In mountainous and rocky tracts on the inner islands and mainland of Argyle, Inverness, 

 Boss, and Sutherland shires it is found commonly in pairs, each frequenting a radius of about 

 six or eight miles. In Islay, Mull, and Jura, as well as the islands of minor extent, it is about 

 equally distributed, but is much more plentiful in Skye and its outlying stacks of rock, whose 

 precipitous sides afford abundant shelter and protection. It is also comparatively common 

 in the Outer Hebrides, breeding on the higher hills. I have traced it from Barra to Lewis, 

 and have seen it on all the intervening islands. Mr. John M'Donald, of Newton, North Uist, 

 imforms me that he has seen the Peregrine during the breeding-season on the Haskeir rocks, 

 between Harris and St. Kilda, and on St. Kilda itself, where there are several pairs. 



"As we leave these isolated and almost inpregnable fortresses of the Peregrine, and approach 

 the mainland, we find that the ravages of keepers and collectors have of late years greatly thinned 

 its numbers. Among the deserted eyries of the south-western counties may be mentioned Dum- 

 barton rock, and at least three or four stations on the cliffs between Giroan and the entrance to 

 Loch Ryan, including that on Knockdolian Hill. 



"There are still many pairs to be found in the vicinity of Ben Lomond and on the 

 mountain-ranges stretching from the head of Loch Long both to the north and west. From 

 these districts and other parts of Argyleshire, as well as the island of Arran, considerable 

 numbers of Peregrines are sent in to the Glasgow birdstuffers. In Ayrshire several inland 

 haunts, such as the parish of Straiton, are yet frequented ; the same may be said of Wigton- 



