108 
FALCO PEREGRIN ATOE. 
chasm to a lower boulder, from which I could see almost every spot in the precipice ; but still no falcon. I then 
shouted, and out shot three splendid fellows, which I missed with my first barrel ; but back they came, dashing 
up to the rock, and not caring the least for my shot, when bang went the weapon, and down came a fine fellow 
between two large rocks, where I judged him to be safe, and then fired several shots at impossible distances at 
the other two, which wheeled and dashed round the summit of the hill in such a manner that I thought they 
must be breeding. After a while the third bird made off, the second disappearing suddenly from the battle- 
field. Thinking it was about time to pick up my dead bird, I made my way across and through the water to 
the spot where I had dropped him, and to my extreme disgust found that he had fallen into a sluice, out 
of which the first receding wave must have carried him. Not a sign of my prize anywhere ; high and low 1 
searched, and at last gave up in despair, convinced that a monstrous blue rock-fish, with which the water 
beneath the cliff swarmed, had long since polished him off ! On returning to the other side of the island, 
where my companion was hungrily waiting breakfast, the first sight that greeted me was a magnificent winged 
Shahin hanging by his knotted primaries to the branch of a tree. My companion (Major Sir J ohn Campbell) 
had dropped him as he shot past ; and hence his sudden disappearance from my side of the island.” Elsewhere 
in the lower country I have met with the Shahin in the Friars-Hood district, and at Yakkahatua mountain 
near Avisawella ; and Captain Wade, 57th Regt., shot a fine adult specimen at Tissa-Wewa Tank, near Anarad- 
japura, in December 1875. In the hill-zone it is more often seen, and no doubt breeds in the mountains. I 
killed an old male at the top of the celebrated Yakka rock, Hewahette, in May 1876, and in the following 
month Mr. Bligh procured another in Haputale. During the same season a young bird, which I saw after- 
wards alive in the possession of Messrs. Whyte and Co., was caught in the act of dashing at some pigeons near 
Kandy. I have seen it on the Alagalla Peak, in the precipices of which I have reason to believe it nests. 
This Falcon was first described by Sundevall from a specimen which settled on the vessel he was sailing 
in, “ in lat. 6° 20' N., between Ceylon and Sumatra, rather nearer the last-named island, and at least 70 Swedish 
miles from the nearest land, viz. the Nicobar Islands.” From what follows in the Professor’s remarks on this 
occurrence, he was of opinion that it was either Hying to or from Sumatra. It has not, however, been discri- 
minated from that island; and it is more probable that the specimen in question was on its way to or from the 
Nicobar Islands, but where also it has not been found up to the present time. It is said by Jerdon to be 
found “ throughout the whole of India, from the Himalayas to the extreme south, extending into Affglianistan 
and Western Asia.” As regards the two latter regions I imagine that it has been here confounded with 
another species, as the bird does not appear to extend beyond the confines of the Indian empire, and the northern 
race, inhabiting even the Himalayas, is separated as F. atriceps by Mr. Hume. I have, however, examined 
individuals in the National Collection from Nepaul, and they are not separable from Ceylonese specimens. It 
is more often found in Central than Upper India, and is more frequent still in the South, inhabiting the 
Nilgliiris and breeding there. In the Carnatic it is seldom met with ; but in the Eastern Ghauts it is tolerably 
common, according to Jerdon, breeding there, and migrating in the young stage to the former locality. As 
this writer has stated, it is no doubt far from being a common bird, confining itself to forest-clad districts. I 
observe that it is not mentioned in Mr. Fairbank’s list of birds from the Palani Hills, nor in Mr. Bourdillon’s 
from Travancore, although Jerdon shot it in the latter district. Col. Ticlcell states that it is a commoner 
species in Burmah than in India, and that he frequently observed it on the sea-side at Amherst. It must be 
local, however, in Burmah, as I do not find it recorded thence by any of the naturalists whose work has 
been described of late years in ‘ Stray Feathers.’ With regard to the specimens of this Falcon said to have 
been procured at sea in the Indian Ocean, I have to remark that the bird mentioned by Mr. Whyte (Ibis, 
1877, p. 149) as being captured in the Gulf of Socotra, and belonging to the present species, has eventually 
proved to be a Common Peregrine ; and I am strongly of opinion that the source to which the presence of 
another (mentioned in a footnote, ‘ Stray Feathers,’ 1877, p. 502, as being procured in 1833 on board ship 
between Mauritius and Madagascar) might be traced is that which has led to many mistakes in “ distribu- 
tion,” viz. an escape from a state of confinement. 
Habits . — In Ceylon the Indian Peregrine frequents lofty mountain-precipices or inaccessible cliffs on the 
sea-coast. It is an excessively shy bird, retiring when not engaged in the pursuit of its quarry to sequestered 
ledges, and easily escapes all notice, unless observed to fly towards its retreat. It is as bold and courageous 
