37 



writes (Ibis, 1865, p. 257) as follows : — '-The Peregrine, nowhere numerous, occurs at all times 

 of the year, in all suitable localities, near the coast and on the western slopes of the watershed of 

 Central Palestine. To the eastward of the crest we never observed it. It extends from the 

 Lebanon to the south of Jordan. During the winter we frequently met with it as far inland as 

 Nazareth ; and in the beginning of March I shot a female from a palm-tree in a garden at Jaffa, 

 where it was evidently, from the state of its lower plumage, incubating. The same restriction of 

 the Peregrine to the coast-line I have observed in North Africa; but there it is replaced inland 

 by the Falco Barbaras." Lord Lilford, who says that he has met with the present species in 

 various parts of Spain, France, Italy, Sardinia, the Ionian Islands, Epirus, and Northern Greece, 

 adds that he once or twice observed Falcons in the Island of Cyprus, which he can attribute to 

 no other than the present species. 



In Africa it is generally distributed in the northern portion, and has occurred as a rare 

 straggler in even the extreme southern portion of the continent. Von Ileuglin says that it is 

 a common winter visitant in Egypt, and ranges, though sparingly, southward on the Nile to 

 10° N. lat., and is found in Abyssinia and at Kordofan. It is most numerous on the lagoons of 

 Lower Egypt, where it feeds on the waterfowl which are found there in abundance. Old males 

 are but rarely seen, females and young birds being usually met with. Captain Shelley thinks 

 that it may occasionally remain to breed; for he shot one, on the Gth of May, at Aboo Fayda ; 

 and Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., writes to me that it seems to be commoner in Egypt than the 

 Lanner, but old males are said to be rare. The stomach of the first specimen he shot contained 

 grain as well as flesh, and it had doubtless been devouring a duck, from the stomach of which 

 the grain in all probability came ; and he also shot one in the act of carrying off a Peewit. " 1 

 shot another," he writes, " which had been making a heavy meal of locusts. Its feeding on 

 locusts may seem strange to some ; but it is ordained that almost all birds, except the smallest, 

 should help in keeping down the numbers of this destructive pest, which in times of great 

 visitation (fortunately rare) will come to a district in such appalling clouds as to threaten 

 absolute ruin to the poor fellaheen." In North-west Africa it is recorded by Loche as found 

 breeding in Algeria ; and Dr. Taczanowski states that it is to be met with in mountainous places 

 and on the borders of the Sahara, but everywhere rare. Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt-Drake states that it 

 is common in Tangier and Eastern Morocco, and breeds in the mountains ; and Favier also says 

 {fide Colonel Irby, I. c.) that it is " not uncommon near Tangier, where some remain to breed ; 

 the remainder are migratory, going to Europe in February and March and returning in November 

 and December." Both Berthelot and Dr. C. Bolle speak of it as occurring in the Canaries ; and 

 the latter states that it is occasionally met with at Fuerteventura ; but Mr. Godman never met 

 with it, nor does Vernon Harcourt refer to it as occurring at Madeira. Mr. J. H. Gurney has 

 shown me two examples from South Africa — one from Natal, and one from the Cape colony ; and 

 I possess one from the last locality ; but in this part of the African continent it is extremely 

 rare, being replaced by Falco minor. 



In Asia the Peregrine has also a wide range. It was seen in Persia by De Filippi ; and 

 Loftus brought a specimen from Southern Persia. Mr. Blanford did not meet with it in that 

 country; but Major St. John states that a good many are caught in the mountains near the 

 coast and sold at Bushire and Bander Abbas to dealers from Arabia, but that Persian falconers 



