418 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the author in red ink, by the light of these suggestions, some of 

 which were adopted by him. 



The following notes by Downes have not been printed by 

 Sebright, and certainly seem worthy of being rescued from 

 oblivion. The first of these relates to the breeding of the 

 Peregrine Falcon in Hunstanton Cliffs, Norfolk : — 



(1). "The late Nicholas Styleman, Esq., of Snettisham, in 

 Norfolk, in reply to my inquiry of how long had the Hawks been 

 known to breed in the cliffs of Hunstanton, in Norfolk, informed 

 me for more than a century. This proves, in the case of one 

 dying, the other finds a mate, and returns to the same eyrie, 

 although the young birds should be taken year after year, as 

 they had then been for twenty years. The last eyrie there was 

 about eight years since." 



Assuming this note to have been penned during the year in 

 which the book was printed (1826), the date of the last eyrie at 

 Hunstanton would be 1818.* 



(2). Downes remarked that eyesses should be fed twice a day, 

 using the voice in going to feed them, as when luring. Sebright 

 wrote, " the longer they can be kept at hack, as this state of 

 liberty is called, the better will they ultimately be." On this 

 Downes observed, " dele at Heck ; it is not so called until after 

 the birds have been taken up and trained." 



(3). Sebright wrote (MS. p. 6) : — " I have seen some excellent 

 Hawks that were made so tame at Hack as to feed on the 

 falconer's fist. It is a practice, however, that I cannot approve. 

 Eyesses are not the better for being very tame. The usual way 

 of feeding them is to throw the meat to the distance of a few 

 yards, and to allow them to carry it away ; but I think it much 

 better to fasten it to the ground, and by thus using them to feed 

 near the falconer they will be less disposed to carry — that is, fly 

 — away with the game, a fault to which all Hawks are more or 

 less inclined." On this Downes wrote : — " I have never seen 

 meat thrown to the Hawks and to allow them to carry it away. 

 Till taken up their meat should be cut in pieces, and given to 

 them in a plate ; they should be called as when luring, and they 



* In the Trans. Norf. Nat. Society, vol. iv. 1888—89, p. 658, Mr. T. J. 

 Mann has printed an interesting table from an old note-book in the hand- 

 writing of Sir Hamon L'Estrange, of Hunstanton, Knt., showing what 

 Hawks were taken by him from Hunstanton Cliff from 1604 to 1653. 



