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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the wild peregrine's adaptability to the 

 easy life of great cities, where congenial 

 nesting and roosting places are found in 

 the belfries, towers, and lofts of the pub- 

 lic buildings and pigeons in abundance 

 are available. For many winters an old 

 peregrine appeared in Washington, haunt- 

 ing the Post-Office Department building 

 tower as a lookout, sallying forth when- 

 ever it was hungry, making a clean kill 

 on pigeon, and returning to the post-office 

 roof to plume and eat its prey. A mem- 

 ber of the Biological Survey went on 

 top of the building and collected a large 

 number of leg-rings from carcasses that 

 had been left by this bold and capable 

 brigand. 



A fine old female peregrine I once took 

 from Pajaro Island, in Mexico, was liv- 

 ing on white ibis from a convenient rook- 

 ery, and her lookout tree was well sur- 

 rounded by the bleached and weathered 

 carcasses of her victims. I fancy her 

 demise was a welcome event on the 

 island. 



Many stirring accounts are current of 

 the courage and tenacity of purpose these 

 hawks possess, but one of the most strik- 

 ing is of an eyess falcon belonging to a 

 Major Fisher, which was flown at a 

 woodcock near Loch Eil. Both birds 

 mounted at once, higher and higher, until 

 they were entirely lost to view, even with 

 powerful glasses. After considerable 

 time, however, a tiny speck was seen fall- 

 ing out of the sky, and the woodcock, 

 closely followed by the thunderbolt in 

 feathers that had struck him, fell toward 

 the very patch of fern from which he 

 had been flushed. Before hitting the 

 ground, however, the hawk had again 

 overtaken her victim and struck him stone 

 dead in air. After so long a chase the 

 falcon was well fed up, and, so far as she 

 was concerned, her master wisely "called 

 it a day." 



The "Old Hawking Club," organized 

 in England in 1864, always maintained a 

 fine cadge of hawks and kept careful 

 records of individual performances. Be- 

 tween August 12 and September 14 one 

 year, the club's prize bird, "Parachute," 

 a two-year-old eyess falcon, killed 57 

 grouse, 76 partridges, 5 pheasants, 3 

 hares, and five birds of miscellaneous 

 species. 



"General," a falcon belonging to the 

 Duke of Leeds, killed in 1832 129 out of 

 132 flights, mostly at partridges. "Vesta" 

 was flown in Scotland in nine successive 

 years, averaging 33 grouse a season. This 

 is an unusually long life of activity. 



A glance down the records of famous 

 clubs and of private owners reveals many 

 interesting and romantic names, such as 

 the falcons "Lady Jane Grey," "Em- 

 press," "Buccaneer," "Black Lady," 

 "Comet," "Destiny," and "Will o' the 

 Wisp"; tiercels "Druid," "Butcherboy," 

 "Mosstrooper," "Vanquisher" ; merlins 

 "Tagrag," "She," "Ruy Lopez" ; sparrow- 

 hawks "Blanche," "Lady Macbeth," and 

 "Faerie" ; goshawks "Enid," "Isault," 

 "Geraint," "Tostin," "Sir Tristram," and 

 for variety "Gaiety Gal" and, grimmest 

 and truest of all, "Shadow o' Death." 



A FAMOUS FLIGHT BY "bOIS-LE-DUC" 



"Bois-le-duc" was a haggard falcon of 

 fine qualities, and the following, quoted 

 from Lascelles, gives us a lively picture 

 of a rook flight by this famous hawk: 



"We take up our position behind a 

 stack to wait for a rook passing on his 

 way from the rookery in the valley to 

 the sheepfold on the hill. Presently we 

 see one coming, toiling slowly over the 

 shoulder of the down. 



"Shall we fly one of the young falcons 

 lately entered and coming on so well, or 

 shall it be the old heroine of a hundred 

 flights, victress over more than double 

 that number of rooks, that flies now her 

 fourth season with all the vigor and dash 

 she displayed in the blinding snowstorms 

 and heavy gales of her first year? 



"A hundred or two yards is far enough 

 for a slip with a young hawk, but with a 

 real good one a quarter of mile is not 

 too far, while many and many a time, if 

 the wind be right for her, the old hawk 

 has been slipped at rooks a fair half mile 

 away. 



"It looks as if this slip would be too 

 far for a young hawk, so the handsome 

 old falcon is taken on hand, to the delight 

 of the whole field, not one of whom, how- 

 ever large it may be, but will stay out 

 'just one half-hour more' when it is an- 

 nounced that it is the turn of old 'Bois- 

 le-duc' to fly at the next chance that 

 occurs. 



