144 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
numbers, within a few feet; Puffins, Kestrel, Raven, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Red- 
legged Crow, Great Black-backed Gull, (one nest), Lesser Black-backed Gull, 
(several nests), Herring Gull, common, Kittiwakes, in thousands, Common and 
Green Cormorants, Swifts, and Sand-Martins; and yet not one of them showed 
any signs of alarm at the approach of so formidable a foe. I do not recollect a 
nest where the Herring-Gulls, Guillemots, Razorbills, and Puffins were not 
abundant. The old birds give plenty of notice by their harsh cry when you are 
near their nest, and it is not difficult to find the spot, the same old arched cavity 
being occupied every year. In one instance eleven pairs of Herons were breeding 
on the ledges of the rocks within 150 yards of the nest of the Peregrine Falcon.” 
The eggs are four, five, sometimes six in number, varying much in colour, 
some are very handsomely marked; the ground colour is pale reddish yellow on 
which are brick red, orange red, or reddish-black markings; some are thickly 
spotted all over with brick red on a lighter red ground, resembling typical eggs 
of the Kestrel; in shape, some are suboval, others more elongate; they measure 
from 2°15 to 1°95 inches, by from 1°75 to 1°52 inches. Occasionally a super- 
imposed blotch and streak of lime is found upon the colouring of the egg, as in 
the egg figured, No. 322; this is a characteristic with the eggs of the Falconide, 
and may be also noticed in the Kestrel’s egg, fig. 332. 
In old times the Peregrine was trained and flown at the Heron, young birds 
caught on passage being employed. In modern days good sport is often had 
Rook-hawking, but it can only be enjoyed in an open unenclosed country ; Mag- 
pies, too, afford a good quarry, the attendants on the sport cracking their whips 
and driving Master Mag out of any thick bush in which he may harbour. In 
captivity the Peregrine is remarkably docile; to be kept in health it must be 
supplied with plenty of water to bathe in. When trained birds are being flown 
they commonly make off at first for the nearest water, and after a bath will return 
to the lure. A pair of Peregrines that for many years kept in perfect health and 
plumage in the aviary of a friend of the writer's, had a small stream of water 
running through it that supplied their daily baths. ‘These birds were wonderfully 
expert in killing rats; it was a great amusement for the men working on the 
estate to capture rats for them and, bringing them to the aviary, to see how they 
would be killed by a lightning stroke from one of the Falcons. But these noble 
birds are very liable to fits; too often the falconer visits his favourites to find 
one of the best lying dead by the side of its block; they also suffer much from 
parasites, both in the feathers and in the intestines. 
The Peregrine has many local names: Cliff Hawk; Game Hawk; Hunting 
Hawk; Blue Hawk; while in Scotland it is frequently called the Goshawk. 
