210 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



distance from my house, and were so fortunate as to fall in with 

 both cock and hen. The keepers fired at the hen and killed 

 her ; they both claimed the bird, and I have no doubt but both 

 hit her. She measured from the bill to the end of the tail 

 nineteen inches, forty-two inches from tip to tip of the wings, and 

 weighed 3 lbs. As we had no chance at the cock that evening, 

 we assembled on the evening of the following Monday. We 

 stationed ourselves at about half a mile distance from each 

 other, and then had some boys to beat the rocks, in order to 

 drive the bird past where we lay in ambush. I had not been 

 long at my station, till he came flying past me ; I gave him the 

 contents of one barrel, and succeeded in bringing him down. 

 He measured seventeen inches from the bill to the end of the tail, 

 thirty-seven inches from tip to tip of the wings, and weighed 1 \ lb. 

 I have had him stuffed by Mr. James Leighton of Shap, who has 

 had considerable experience in preserving birds, etc., for the 

 cabinet. A great number of people have been to Mr. Leighton's 

 to see him, and allow him to be a most splendid bird. He is 

 remarkably fine in his plumage, and none damaged by being 

 shot. The two keepers above named have killed together, 

 young and old, not less than eighteen of this species, but are of 

 the opinion that these two are the finest specimens they ever 

 saw.' x 



No species could increase in the face of such destructive 

 measures ; but up to 1878 a few pairs continued to breed in the 

 east of Cumberland and in East Westmorland, but especially in 

 the heart of the Lake district. Whitbarrow Scar has occasion- 

 ally been tenanted by breeding birds. So has a fine headland 

 near St. Bees, where I studied the actions of a pair of Peregrines 

 beside their nest in 1885. 



A pair of Peregrines always frequented Skiddaw until 1883, 

 when they were destroyed. It was in Thirlmere that the Eev. 

 C. F. Smith robbed an eyrie of the Falcon in 1880; plundered 

 also by other visitors, under the guidance of local men, who 

 would otherwise have robbed the nest themselves. One pair 

 nested annually from 1883 to 1889, either at Iron Crag or 

 Falcon Crag. The Eev. H. D. Kawnsley informed me that in 

 1 Carlisle Patriot, April 10, 1840. 



