142 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
Family—F-ALCONIDA:. 
PEREGRINE FALCON. 
Falco peregrinus, ‘TUNSTALL. 
HE Peregrine, the falconer’s favourite, on account of its docility, courage, and 
splendid flight, is still far from rare in the British Isles, although its eyries, 
through persecution, become every year fewer in number. It chiefly loves to 
frequent the lofty cliffs that tower above the sea; all round our coasts there used, 
formerly, to be no suitable station that was not tenanted by a pair of these noble 
Falcons: But to-day many a fine headland is deserted, the Yorkshire coast on 
the east, equally with that of Cardiganshire on the west, is said to have lost all 
its native Peregrines, and it is to be feared that from many another wild sea-board 
the same tale would have to be reported. In Scotland, and on its rocky Islands, 
the Peregrine may still be almost as numerous as of yore, but the Blue Hawk, as 
it is called, is looked upon as a deadly foe to the Grouse and, too often, finds no 
mercy. 
The Peregrine is the most cosmopolitan of all the Falconide, ranging 
throughout the whole of Europe and Asia, while closely allied forms represent it 
in N. America and N. Africa. Its migrations, northwards in the spring, of old 
birds, southwards in the autumn, and then chiefly of the birds of the year, occasion 
it to be noted in every part of the British Isles, and the habit of the old birds 
of driving their young from the neighbourhood of their birth to find fresh hunting 
grounds for themselves, also helps to ensure a visit to inland districts from the 
wanderers. So fearless is the Peregrine that in curiosity, or through an interest 
in sport, it will fly close up to the shooter, and does not always escape. When 
gorged after a meal it will perch in a lethargic state upon a bank or rail, and 
suffer Blackbird-shooting boys to do it to death. A splendid pair in the writer’s 
collection were slain in this unworthy fashion on the banks of the Barnstaple river. 
One severe winter, when the writer was Woodcock shooting on Lundy Island, 
hardly a couple of shots would be fired before the party of guns were joined by a 
Peregrine, and soon after by a second, the Hawks keeping in close attendance, in the 
technical phrase of falconry “waiting on” above the sportsmen and their dogs, and 
when a Cock or Snipe was flushed, if it was missed, it had next to run the 
