CH. IV.] PEREGRINE FALCONS—STARLINGS. 195 
But one pair of Peregrine Falcons has, it is 
said (and, so far as I am able to make out, cor- 
rectly), ever been known to breed at one time in 
the cliffs at Freshwater. Every year the nest is 
robbed by the fishermen, who get good prices for 
both eggs and young birds, and none of the latter 
are therefore ever suffered to escape. Frequently 
one of the old birds has been shot, and occa- 
sionally both have shared the same fate while 
engaged in nesting there, but none of these cir- 
cumstances has ever made the slightest difference, 
and the due appearance of a pair at the breeding 
season has never been interrupted. 
The mysterious way in which Trout appear to 
become acquainted with the fact that a vacancy 
has occurred behind a particular stone, or other 
favourite harbour, has, I dare say, struck other 
fishermen besides myself, who will doubtless have 
noticed how invariably such a locality is the haunt 
of a “good fish,” the tenant in occupation being 
very frequently about the same size as his pre- 
decessor. 
Formerly such a thing as a Starling’s nest was 
(I believe) unknown in the Isle of Wight. Now 
they breed there in great numbers, scarcely a 
convenient hole in tree or thatch being without 
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