186 



THE FI.IGHT OF A FAfCON, 



a hoop over which paper has been pasted. I have spent so many years in the country, also near the 

 sea coast, and in what I might call close touch with these birds, owing to having kept pigeons, which 

 attract the Falcons, I have had exceptional opportunities of observing them in their natural habitat, 

 and feel that my opinion will carry some weight with those competent to judge. I should like to state that 

 I express such opinion, not out of wanton love of contradiction, but to tell the truth, and thereby 

 remove flagrantly erroneous conceptions from the minds of those interested in such a subject. Some 

 little time ago I read an article on this same subject,* in which the writer stated that a Black-cheeked 

 Falcon had no chance with a pigeon. I cannot imagine on what basis the author made such a state- 

 ment. My considerable experience of these birds has taught me the contrary, and may prove inter- 

 esting. On numerous occasions I have witnessed Falcons after my Homing Pigeons. On March iXth, 

 1915, I had a perfect view of such a contest, under circumstances which enabled me to take measure- 

 ments in all respects, excepting the height the Falcon attained after each charge, and I could only 

 make a guess at this in comparison with the height of a box tree, which was eighty feet high, and in 

 a direct line with the contest. I saw some of my Pigeons coming home, flying very low at a great 

 speed. Knowing this to be the usually sure sign of the appearance of a Falcon. I stood and watched. 

 Suddenly I saw a Black-cheeked Falcon make a charge at a Pigeon, just as it came beneath the above- 

 mentioned tree. It missed its prey, and with an almost instantaneous, graceful curve, swooped up 

 vertically at a tremendous rate, as if shot out of a gun, to a height which I judged to be about 250 feet ; 

 then turning suddenly \\ ith half-closed wings, the neck was drawn in , the feathers compressed , and with 

 wings almost closed, it descended with a lightning-like swoop, only to miss again. This it did three times 

 while the Pigeon was travelling 125 yards, the measured distance from the box tree to a willow tree, 

 where the Pigeon escaped. Therefore, if my judgment of the height the Falcon attained after each 

 charge was about correct, the Falcon travelled 525 yards while the Pigeon was going 125 yards, and 



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assuming that the Pigeon took five seconds to cover the distance, it would be travelling at the rate of 

 51 miles per hour, so the Falcon must have been doing about 214 miles per hour. In assuming that 

 the Pigeon was travelling at the rate of 51 miles per hour, I would not be at all overestimating its rate 

 of speed. These birds, in trials over long distances, in some cases over hundreds of miles, have been 



* Australasian, 25th May, 1918. 



