Clarke : ^oekshire Ornithological Notes for 1880. 175 



Ms keeper, I set out for the nest, to which it was a stiff climb. On 

 reaching the brow, the male commenced uttering a very plaintive cry, 

 evidently from a very considerable height, for although we could hear 

 him most distinctly, yet we failed entirely to make out his form. 

 When we had arrived immediately above the nest, the keeper gave a 

 loud whistle, which caused the old bird to leave the nest with a deep 

 downward dive, when she received the contents of both barrels, and 

 was no more. She was a grand old bird, weighing 33 ounces, and 

 measuring 44 inches across the wings. The n-est was placed on, or 

 rather occupied the top of, a small -column of rock which was stuck, 

 as it were, on to the perfectly smooth face of the cliff, whose slope had 

 a considerable inward tendency, rendering it necessary to put one's 

 head and shoulders uncomfortably far over the brink, to obtain a 

 glimpse of the nest, whioh was composed of old heather stems, with 

 little or no lining, and appea-red to be an ancient structure. In it were 

 four eggs, which we obtained by means of a net attacked to a long rod, 

 brought v/ith us for the purpose, the rocky nature of the place, and 

 stiff slope above the bank, making the use of a rope quite impossible^ 

 Not at all a pleasant task was it angling for the eggs ; the rock at the 

 brink sloped not only smartly to the cliff, but as smartly to the left, 

 from which point alone it was possible to work, making it necessary to 

 be held with ropes from behind and from the right The dizzy depth 

 ■beneath, and the distance it was necessary to place one's chest over the 

 edge to use the net, must also be taken into consideration in appre 

 elating the position. The eggs were extremely handsome, two of them 

 being especially so, having a ground colour of a beautiful pale flesh 

 tint, almost pure pink, richly marked Vvdth red-brown. To give some 

 idea of the persecution to which the peregrine is subject, I may remark 

 that this v/as the sisteeiath bird shot by the keeper from nests on this 

 single fell. 



Leaving the peregrine's desolated home, we paid a visit to the raven's 

 nest, on the other side of the fell, and inspected the raw-looking little 

 <5reatures, now three days old, which were gaping vigorously beneath. 

 The old raven left the nest in a very different fashion to that adopted 

 on the 29th ult., when she slunk away in the quietest manner possible ; 

 now, she was extremely noisy and flew around at a respectful distance, 

 •croaking during the time of the intrusion. The male bird was not to be 

 seen on either visit. The raven has bred on this fell for a gTeat number 

 of years, confining its choice to the sites on the east and west slopes. 

 The peregrine varies its choice between this fell and two other sites a 

 few miles off, in all of which it fares very badly. 



