DEEE-SHOOTING AND OTHER MATTERS. 99 



forks of old fir-trees. I consider tliis bird to be iden- 

 tical with our own, excepting in size. The Japanese 

 bird is, I think, a little smaller than his Western 

 congener. 



The peregrine falcon is also plentiful. Shooting one 

 day in a marshy patch of ground, a snipe rose, and 

 before I could fire, something darted past my head, and 

 the snipe dropped into the rushes. A male peregrine 

 had sprung from some firs not far off, and swooped at 

 the snipe. I put the frightened thing up four or five 

 times, the falcon each time dashing at the bewildered 

 bird ; during the interval he flew round and round my 

 head, within five-and-twenty yards. The snipe at last 

 refused to rise, and my retriever brought it to me 

 uninjured. Thinking the bird had gone through enough 

 to entitle it to another chance, I let it go, and the 

 poor little creature may be still enjoying life. N"o 

 enemies with guns at any rate are likely to visit the 

 locality. A snipe is a favourite bird with epicures of 

 the hawk kind, and particularly with the peregrine ; 

 I have often seen one of these birds dart after a snipe 

 that I had started, and excepting in the instance men- 

 tioned, the snipe has invariably gone away with the 

 wind, and kept rising to get above the hawk. The 

 Icestrel, sparrow-hawk, hen-harrier, and a species of 



