68 AMID THE HIGH HILLS 
This amazing feat in aerial gymnastics is no 
doubt also performed on rare occasions by the 
peregrine. One of the most experienced of 
living falconers wTote to me as follows : "I have 
seen a very celebrated falcon which I owned for 
years bring off a remarkable trick several times. 
She used to strike at the back of the grouse's 
head, and I have seen her just scalp the grouse, 
taking a piece out of its skull not as large as a pea, 
and thus killing the bird in mid-air just as if it 
was shot ; often, when the grouse w^as high above 
the ground, I have seen the falcon then take a 
sharp turn in the air as the grouse was falling, like 
a spinning leaf, and pick it up in her feet before it 
could touch the ground — a very wonderful sight." 
An old friend of mine, who is head stalker in 
one of our best -known deer forests and whose 
veracity I have every reason to accept, told me an 
interesting story which further illustrates what 
fine feats in the air the peregrine falcon can per- 
form. He said that on one occasion he saw a 
falcon strike and carry off a crow. As the falcon 
was circling higher and higher up, carrying off this 
crow, it was mobbed by a considerable number of 
other crows. For some time it ignored them, 
continuing its steady upward circling flight until 
