PEREGRINE FALCON. 
3 
occasions I have frequently met with both Ivittiwakes, Razorbills, Guillemots, and Puffins dead upon the Rock ; 
and I have no doubt that the Peregrine was in every case responsible for the slaughter. In my note-books, 
which I have regularly kept for over twenty years, I can refer back to instances in over a dozen Scotch and 
English counties, as well as in two or three of the adjacent islands, where I have actually witnessed either 
this destructive propensity or the unmistakable victims that have been struck down *. 
It is of course impossible to convince any one who is thoroughly satisfied that the Peregrine will look for 
prey but once in twenty-four hours and will never destroy life unnecessarily ; I, however, simply state what 
I believe to be true from my own experience. Those whose opinions differ will deny that the dead Grouse 
were the victims of the Falcon, suggesting that they owed their death either to disease or wounds, or the 
attacks of some other vermin. I should not have brought such a sweeping accusation against a species I 
admire as one of the most interesting of our native birds, had I not carefully examined several of these dead 
bodies. I have shot the Falcon when in possession of a Grouse, found carcases on the ledges they frequent, 
and picked up those I have watched struck down. The injuries indicted by the stroke of the Peregrine, 
though usually severe, do not necessarily prove fatal ; at all events the bird is not on every occasion 
instantly deprived of life, whatever might be the ultimate result. From the position in which the dead 
bodies were found, from the character of the injuries, and from the state of the remains, I have come 
to the conclusion that the Peregrine alone can be responsible. The healthy state of the feathers, the 
condition of the bodies, as well as the localities in which they were discovered and the manner in which 
they lay, would preclude the idea that disease was the cause of death. A wounded bird will, as we all 
well know, occasionally fly a considerable distance and fall in any position ; but the majority that escape 
for the time and eventually perish from effects of gunshots, usually creep into some secure retreat, and there 
pine away and die. The Sparrow-Hawk and Merlin may, as some falconers assert, be guilty of destroying 
a few Grouse; I must, however, confess that not a single instance has come under my own observation! 
H ith regard to four-footed vermin, the manner in which they seize and kill their prey cannot fail to leave 
marks that arc easily recognized. Even if disturbed and pursued, the fox, as a rule, bears off his prey ■ but 
eathers leave a trace more or less visible from the very spot where it was captured to either the earth or the 
p ace where it was devoured. The work of a stoat can mislead no one used to study their mode of slaughter • 
and wild cats were few and far between, if not totally absent from the localities where I have met with the 
greatest number of remains. In addition to the birds previously mentioned, I have seen one or two cases 
frequent s^iff^^ 6 ^ P1 ° Ver ^ ™ nt ° nly slau S htcred - I)ucks » Coots, Rooks, and Snipe appear to be also 
It would be useless to repeat any of the accounts of the damage inflicted on game by this species tint I 
‘ k " eperS ° r SlUlCS ’ as 1 am wo11 aware that both scientific naturalists and falconers arc pleased 
consider all such men both ignorant and lazy and only too glad to bring unfounded charges against the 
poor Peregrine in order to account for their own shortcomings and neglect of dutv It G „ f 'V 3 , 
^ ** assists o,ooo that I have received evidence that 
sunning on the cast coast during the present month (December 1881), a Peregrine passed within l 
distance of the boat; and, pointing out the bird, I inquired of my puntman if he was a • * 10rt 
species. The local name, I discovered, was the “ Game-Hawk;” and the bird was well k T n the 
The man also stated lie well remembered, many years a-o pickin- un ami- r r * !? t0 the natlves - 
dorva on one of the .aarahes aad loft, loth hi g q X ^d ? He had ali I K “ ' ,e ° n 
species attacking the large flocks of Coots that frequent these waters driving thTlfi ***** 
and causing the greatest consternation in their ranks, none darim- to’tako i COmpact bodics 
° to take wing, but occasionally flapping a 
* My observations have been made in the Hebrides, Caithness, Sutherland Boss shire r * T 
the Bass, Northumberland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Norfolk, Kent, Susses, and Cornwall. ’ } ’’ IUVCrnCSS - shirc ’ ^l-shire, East Lothian, 
