520 Birds. 



while others skulked away, as if in the hope of deceiving the intruder 

 as to their real number. But in vain. Their fears and my hopes were 

 to be realized : and in due time the falcons returned and took posses- 

 sion of a ravens' nest, built on a projecting point immediately above a 

 wide fissure, which extended from the bottom to nearly the top of the 

 cliff above alluded to. They soon set about their business in good 

 earnest ; a business which, I believe, was new to them ; inasmuch as 

 from the colour of their plumage, I judged them to be yearlings. The 

 appearance of this youthful pair I account for in the fact, that a cer- 

 tain juvenile " fowler," who had been wont to rob the eyrie of the old 

 stagers established in the Culvers, had, during the preceding year, 

 gone to serve Her Majesty on the high seas; and consequently the 

 brood escaped to add to the number of this fine species of British 

 Rap tores. 



Many a time did I watch with admiring delight the evolutions of 

 this pair. While the female was sitting, the male would perch upon 

 the edge of the nest, and give me a fair opportunity of examining with 

 my telescope, at the distance of a hundred and fifty yards, his fine 

 proportions, richness of plumage and noble bearing. There certainly 

 is something approaching to the majestic in the appearance of this bird. 

 The erectness of its posture, its full bright eye, and the compactness 

 of its figure, indicate at once high courage and great muscular power. 

 And yet it is not on the wing that the appearance of this bird is most 

 striking. I remember my feelings were those of disappointment the 

 first time I had the good fortune to get sight of a peregrine. The ra- 

 pid movement of the wings when flying, renders it a much less beauti- 

 ful object than the graceful circling sail of that otherwise uninteresting 

 chicken-slayer, the kite. It is only when it stoops that the peregrine 

 astonishes you. Then indeed a rapidity the eye can scarcely follow, 

 and a sound as it cleaves the air that may be distinctly heard at the 

 distance of two hundred yards, convey a more correct notion of what 

 are its full powers of wing. 



But alas for the conclusion of my tale ! The liveried lacquey of 

 the proprietor of East Dene, after full many a time and oft proving his 

 want of skill as a gunner, must needs bring with him, on a fatal day, 

 a guest of his own to try his hand and eye ; and that too on the very 

 day the nestlings were hatched. Consequently they were starved ; 

 and the male falcon, after remaining a few days in the neighbourhood, 

 took flight never, as I fear, to return. Thus were defeated my fond 

 hopes of having another eyrie established ; and that so near my own 

 abode as to allow of constant observation of the habits of this bird. 



