PEREGRINE FALCON. 
or 
pJO 
thickly-peopled centre of a city, and that he has seen it on 
the cathedral at Antwerp. 
The Peregrine Falcon usually takes possession of the 
nest of some other bird (Mr. Wolley says of the Raven) 
in which to lay its eggs, and I doubt whether it ever 
makes a nest of its own, otherwise different pairs of 
birds would not so greatly differ in this respect. Whilst 
some are content with a bare stone-floor upon which 
to rear their young ones, or deposit their eggs upon a few 
bones, others are much more comfortably lodged, some¬ 
times, certainly, if not always, in the usurped or aban¬ 
doned nest of another species. 
The eggs do not greatly differ in colour. I have seen 
none about the identity of which I could have any hesita¬ 
tion. The second figure of the plate, from the collection 
of Mr. Wilmot, is one of the most aberrant varieties I 
have seen. The eggs differ, however, very considerably 
in size, some being one-third less than others, most pro¬ 
bably those of young birds. They are three or four in 
number. Audubon mentions a nest which contained five. 
