PEREGRINE FALCON 53 



two such attacks a year on the part of each Eagle 

 would be enough to account for the smell on so 

 many birds. If skunks could be easily conquered 

 by Eagles, they would not be so numerous or so 

 neglectful of their safety as we find them. 



PEREGRINE FALCON 



Falco peregrmus 



Above plumbeous, lightest on the rump, more or less dutinctly 

 barred with black ; head and cheeks black ; beneath white tinged with 

 cinnamon; abdomen and thighs traversed by narrow black bands; 

 cere and feet yellow; length 20, wing 14 inches. Female similar; 

 a third larger. 



The Peregrine Falcon is found throughout the 

 Argentine Republic, but is nowhere numerous, and 

 is not migratory ; nor is it " essentially a duck- 

 hawk," as in India according to Dr. Anderson, for 

 it preys chiefly on land birds. It is solitary, and 

 each bird possesses a favourite resting-place or home, 

 where it spends several hours every day, and also 

 roosts at night. Where there are trees it has its 

 chosen site where it may always be found at noon ; 

 but on the open treeless pampas a mound of earth 

 or the bleached skull of a horse or cow serves it for 

 a perch, and here for months the bird may be found 

 every day on its stand. It sits upright and motionless, 

 springs suddenly into the air when taking flight, and 

 flies in a straight line, and with a velocity which few 

 birds can equal. Its appearance always causes great 



