PEREGRINE FALCON.
The Peregrine Falcon has always been celebrated with falconers for its superior dash and courage. The female is much the larger and more powerful bird, and is called the “Falcon,” the male being known as the “Tiercel.” The young birds reared from the nest are called “Eyes,” and the immature specimens, from their more rufous colour, are distinguished as the “Red Falcon” and the “Red Tiercel.” When a bird has been caught wild in the full plumage it is called “Haggard.” The principal flight of the “Falcon” was at the Heron, and many anecdotes are told of the encounters between these two antagonists in mid-air. The evidence of Falconers, however, goes to show that the impalement of the Hawk by the Heron’s bill is a rare occurrence, and it is only when the birds come to the ground that the presence of the man is required to rescue the Falcons from their dangerous foe. The Heron, on being pursued, endeavours to avoid his pursuer by mounting high into the air, the Falcon meanwhile doing his best to rise above him and strike the quarry to the ground. Generally, two Falcons were employed in the chase, and while the Heron avoided the stoop of one by changing his position suddenly, the other was ready to stoop from above, until, by a successful swoop, the Heron would be mastered and borne to the ground with the two Falcons in close embrace. Then was the time for the good falconer to be at hand to save his Hawks from the Heron. In a wild state the Peregrine feeds on Grouse of all kinds, Pheasants, Partridges, Ducks, Pigeons, Plovers, &c., but it does not so often visit the poultry-yard as the other Hawks, preferring the open country or the sea-coast. In this latter locality, the Falcon feeds on the various sea-birds, such as the Puffins, Auks, Guillemots, and as it flies back to its nest with food for its young, it will sometimes in very wantonness rip up a Gull or other sea-bird if it happens to get in the way as it rushes by. The nest is generally large, and composed of sticks and herbaceous plants, excepting in localities where none of the latter exist, when it is made of grass. The site chosen is some sea-cliff or high precipice inland, where there is sure to be some difficulty in reaching the nest, which is generally harried by means of a rope. They build in the same localities for years together, and Professor Newton gives an interesting record of such an occurrence,[206] when he mentions a hill in Lapland, where a pair of Falcons had a nest when it was visited by the French astronomical expedition in 1736, a nest being re-discovered in the same place in 1799 by Captain Skjöldebrand, and again by the late Mr. Woolley, in 1853. Near the site of its nest the Peregrine brooks no intruder, and will even attack an Eagle, an instance having been recorded of one of the latter birds being stunned and brought to the ground by a Peregrine, who broke its own wing in the attempt, and was liberated by the shepherds to mend its wing as best it could, in gratitude for having delivered their aquiline enemy into their hands.
HOODED FALCON.
In Holland, where until recent years hawking was largely carried on under the auspices of the king, there is a well-known place, called Valkenswaard, where a good many Hawks are trapped every autumn during migration, and it is from the neighbourhood of this village that many of the most celebrated falconers have come. At the same time England has also produced many celebrated adepts at the art, which is generally carried on from father to son; and one of the Barr family, with a high reputation as a falconer, a few years ago exhibited his trained birds in the neighbourhood of London. The writer has also seen some fine sport in Huntingdonshire, with Lord Lilford’s Hawks, in a large extent of open country near Great Gidding.
FALCON’S HOOD.
The male Peregrine is of a bluish-grey colour, narrowly barred with black, the wings darker; the cheeks, ear-coverts, and moustache, black, the entire sides of the head being sometimes of this dark aspect; underneath, the body is white, with more or less of a reddish tinge, and crossed with black bars; tail grey, broadly barred with black and tipped with white. The length is about fifteen inches, that of the female about seventeen; and the wing is fourteen inches and a half in length instead of about twelve, as in the male. In plumage the hen bird is very similar, but is generally of a richer rufous hue below.
Besides the Peregrine Falcons there are a host of smaller species of the genus Falco, varying much from the above birds in size and style of colour, but of exactly the same form, and having much the same habits. The Hobby (Falco subbuteo) and the Merlin (F. æsalon) represent these smaller Falcons in the British Islands.