54 BIRDS OF LA PLATA 



consternation amongst other hixdst for even the Spur- 

 winged Lapwing, the spirited persecutor of all other 

 Hawks, flies screaming with terror from it. It prefers 

 attacking moderately large birds, striking them on 

 the wing, after which it stoops to pick them up. 

 While out riding one day I saw a Peregrine sweep 

 down from a great height and strike a Burrowing- 

 Owl to the earth, the Owl having risen up before 

 me. It then picked it up and flew away with it in 

 its talons. 



The Peregrine possesses one very curious habit. 

 When a Plover, Pigeon, or Duck is Idlled, it eats the 

 skin and flesh of the head and neck, picking the 

 vertebrae clean of the flesh down to the breast-bone, 

 and also eating the eyes, but leaving the body 

 untouched. I have found scores of dead birds with 

 head and neck picked clean in this way ; and once 

 I watched for some months a Peregrine which had 

 established itself near my home, where it made 

 havoc among the Pigeons ; and I frequently marked 

 the spot to which it carried its prey, and on going 

 to the place always found that the Pigeon's head and 

 neck only had been stripped of flesh. The Burrow- 

 ing Owl has an analogous habit, for it invariably 

 rejects the hind quarters of the toads and frogs which 

 it captures. 



At the approach of the warm season the Peregrines 

 are often seen in twos and threes violently pursuing 

 each other at a great height in the air, and uttering 

 shrill, piercing screams, which can be heard distinctly 

 after the birds have disappeared from sight. 



