5120 Birds. 



market southward, and always bring a good price, whether young or 

 old, being esteemed the best for falconry, and far superior to any pro- 

 cured elsewhere. Two which I saw taken from the nest at Troup- 

 head, in 1852, sold the day after for a guinea each, and had they 

 been kept three days longer would have brought double that sum, if 

 not more. Their eggs also, when they can be obtained fresh, bring 

 a high price to the daring individual who either descends or ascends 

 for them, and again arrives in safety ; this, however, is not always the 

 case. I remember being an eye-witness once to one of the finest 

 scenes with one of these birds and its quarry which it is possible 

 to imagine. I had often seen some hawks mincing their prey, but 

 never before in a wild state, and especially in such a place. One 

 day, having got myself immured in a very dangerous and disagree- 

 able fix on the precipitous and rugged brow of Gamrie-head, and 

 having in my descent reached a landing, I lay down to rest, being 

 somewhat fatigued and not a little torn by the jutting crags and sharp 

 rocks. Whilst lying thus, a peregrine came sailing slowly but stea- 

 dily along, bearing something large in its talons. On he came, 

 seemingly unconscious of my presence, and alighted on a ledge only 

 a few yards from where I lay. I now saw that the object he carried 

 was a partridge. Having fairly settled down with his quarry on the 

 rock, I could not help wondering at and admiring the collected ease 

 and cool composure with which he beheld his struggling captive (for 

 it was still alive) until death put an end to its sufferings : no 

 lacerating with his beak at the body of the poor and unfortunate pri- 

 soner, in order, as it were, to hasten its termination ; no expanding 

 of the wing to maintain his equilibrium ; although the last and dying 

 struggle of the bird caused him to quiver a little. All being now 

 over, and with one foot resting upon his game and the other on the 

 rock, silent and motionless as a statue, the noble captor stood, with an 

 enquiring eye, gazing at the now lifeless form of his reeking prey, 

 seeming to doubt the fact, if birds can do so, that it was already dead ; 

 but there was no mistake : the blood, oozing from its mouth and 

 wounds, its body being doubtless pierced by the talons of the con- 

 queror, had already begun to trickle down the sides of the dark cliffs, 

 dying the rocks in its course. Satisfied at last that life was fairly 

 extinct, an incision was then made in the neck or shoulder of his vic- 

 tim, and into this the falcon thrust his bill several times, and each 

 time that it was withdrawn it appeared covered with blood. This 

 being done, and having wrenched off the head, which he dropped, he 

 then began not to pluck but to skin his food, from the nock down- 



