PEREGRINE FALCON. 
123 
to prey on one. The same gentleman relates 
another anecdote to the same point : “ Mr 
Sinclair, when exercising his dogs, towards the 
end of July, preparatory to grouse shooting, saw 
them point ; and when coming up he started a 
male Peregrine Falcon off a Grouse just killed by 
him, and very near the same place he came upon 
the female bird also on a Grouse. Although my 
friend lifted both the dead birds, the Hawks con- 
tinued flying about, and on the remainder of the 
flock being sprung by the dogs, either three or 
four more Grouse were struck down by them, 
and thus two or three brace of Grouse were 
obtained.* Various attempts have been made 
to ascertain the velocity of this Falcon’s flight, 
but accurate data can scarcely be procured, and 
our results, in most instances, must be drawn by 
deduction. It has been rated from fifty to one 
hundred and fifty miles an hour ; at the greatest 
velocity of its rushes we have little doubt that 
it is beyond this speed, but in ordinary flight and 
migration, it may have been perhaps overrated. 
The following is a description of the adults of 
both sexes, procured on the Moffat range of hills 
during the breeding season, and of the young in 
its first plumage from the same locality : — 
Male. — Head, back of the neck, and broad 
* Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vo.. i. 
