Francis Heatherley

“ The Falcon flew off as we approached the eyrie, and immediately started calling the alarm as she circled overhead. Her harsh cry seemed to me to be more like "aitch, aitch, aitch" than the "kek, kek, kek" of the books. I never could tell them apart when flying, but when together it is plain that the Tiercel is smaller and his alarm note different and rather higher in pitch. Their flight consisted of a series of rather laboured beats followed by glides on outspread wings. The young formed a round heap like a pancake raised in the middle. Before we disturbed them there was only one head visible. ”

“ Although in my belief the Tiercel is fiercer and bolder than the Falcon, yet in the relaxation of the eyrie I have seen him, when wailing to the Falcon to bring him food for the young, assume a whimsically childlike and plaintive expression that might have evoked sympathy from a dove. Those who remain unsatisfied—and I hope there will be many—have only to spend a little time and trouble in making a hiding-shed and finding an eyrie, and then they will see something far better—the birds themselves. ”

“ The Tiercel, at the sudden noise, stopped to listen with his beak open, which led to a misunderstanding. The youngster had been yapped at for not being prompt enough, so now he darted forward and, seizing his father's tongue, tried to pull it out. There now ensued a regular tug-of-war; the youngster planting his talons well into the ground and leaning back while his father shrieked in agony and, flapping his wings wildly, dragged the youngster, hanging on to his tongue, round and round. ”

“ Moreover, the Falcon, whether actuated by hatred of man or not, showed me her version of the hunger strike, a fearsome thing as watched by mere man with one eye on his own future, for in the avian version it is the husband and helpless young that do the starving. What makes me believe that what I saw is the natural habit of the Peregrine is that in this crisis the Tiercel, though evidently anxious to feed the young, never attempted to do any hunting himself, although there were plenty of birds about. ”

“ I do not know where the Falcon is; I have neither seen nor heard her for three and a-half hours. The young are not brooded now in the heat of the day, and are rather bothered by the flies, and occasionally a young falcon will snap viciously at a tormenting blue-bottle. At 11 a.m. I heard the food cry, which at once roused the youngsters and started them looking anxiously round with their large, dark eyes. A few moments later the Tiercel arrived, making this cry, and alighted on B, but without any food. ”

“ The general appearance of the young gives a curious suggestion of extreme old age. We found a dried turtle-dove's head in the eyrie and a corncrake's as well as the remains of a small bird whose few remaining features suggested a ringed plover but that the legs were black. We erected the shed on its trestles, lashing it to the rocks above by ropes fastened to a ring-bolt at each corner of the shed, keeping the young well covered up during our proceedings, which were long, toilsome and so thirst-producing that we collared most of the boatman's private stock of beer. ”

“ His quiet dignity, or the haughty stare with which he surveys the world from his stronghold, or the quick scowl with which he looks at something that displeases him, may not convey the deep craft of the raven, but they indicate something nobler—absolute fearlessness, with a quiet reserve of power that enables you to realise that this is the bird whose swoop is the terror of the bird-world ”

“ That grand bird, the Gyr Falcon of Iceland, is now on the very verge of extinction owing to the way it is being harried by ornithologists and collectors employed by wealthy dilettanti. Reasoned remonstrances are of no avail against this senseless destruction of rare birds, and more and more will become extinct unless the formation of private collections is made illegal. The multiplication of museums is also of doubtful benefit. No town is complete nowadays without a museum, and its curator, of course, desires all the rarest birds to be represented. ”

“ He is like the normal individual who can rise from his chair and walk out of the room without thinking of how it is done. I am like the poor man with locomotor ataxia, who has to repeat to himself, "Now I must bring my feet back under the edge of the chair, now I must lean forward and straighten my hips as I straighten my knees." ”

“ Five minutes later, while he was feeding the young, and just after I had caught sight of the puffin's legs, the Falcon started, and kept up the alarm cry, by which I guessed that the relief-party was at hand. The Tiercel, however, goes on feeding the young, now with redoubled speed, and he himself swallows one of the quarry's legs, which he had pulled off with great force. The Falcon is calling incessantly from above, while the Tiercel tears desperately at the puffin and feeds the young, who are also more hurriedly taking the proffered bits. ”

“ Only a young male chose the nest depression, the rest lying with their bodies in the sun and their heads in the shade, either of the mallow leaves or rocks. About 1.30 they woke up and a male and female started preening themselves. At 1.40 p.m, they were fed on a passerine bird, brought in his beak by the Tiercel, who alighting on B transferred the bird to his left talons. At 3.45 there was another feed by the Tiercel. The two young females kept in the background during most of this meal, whimpering in a half-hearted way as if they would eat "an they had room." ”

“ The female is an inch or two taller than the male, and of more massive build, and in olden times, when falconry was the fashion and the Peregrine was the favourite of kings, she was called the Falcon and her less powerful mate the Tiercel, because he is, roughly, one-third smaller. We found this dominance of the female a marked feature of their domestic life, so that suffragettes could not choose a bird more suited to them as a totem, for the Falcon is nearly always away hunting, while the Tiercel stays at home and minds the babies. ”

“ He gave several startling "yapps" towards the end of the meal, which I knew of old meant that the young were getting slow in taking their bits; one young female struggled some time with a leg she tried to swallow. She tried hard, but the claws remained an inch outside her beak. The Tiercel rapidly swallowed the remnants and proceeded to brood the young. As he sat quite still I put the focal-plane shutter out of action, and, taking the back of the camera out, fixed the silent studio shutter behind the lens and took two of him with it. ”

“ Brown and I sailed on May 27th to relieve Booth, and while he was helping Booth to remove his gear I searched the top of the island for castings. While doing this. Jim, our boatman, hailed me to draw my attention to the Falcon flying round, pursued by a greater black-backed gull. She flew quietly round in circles, while the gull barked at her and made vicious stoops, which she easily avoided; but there was a great difference in their speed; the gull was like a yacht easily overtaking a lumbering merchantman. ”

“ I came to the conclusion that probably most of the feeding was done early in the morning and late in the day, and that if I wanted to see anything I must sleep in the tent. My friends demurred on account of the risk of the tent being blown bodily away with me, should a gale spring up in the night. But after our boatman had lashed it to his heart's content, with a few additional pounds of new rope, to the adjacent rocks, I was allowed to have my own way and found, as I expected, that at sunset life in the eyrie began, and was carried on next day as if no one were present. ”

“ As each finished preening, it backs to the edge of the eyrie and, grasping the rock firmly with its talons, beats its wings vigorously for a minute or two. The young ravens used to do the same thing during their last week at home. There are other signs of wandering as they emulate one another's efforts in climbing on to the surrounding rocks; one of the young females has, in fact, disappeared from the eyrie. One young male seems very empty, and is whimpering every few minutes. ”

“ On my last visit to Chester Museum, one of the best in the kingdom, I found the latest acquisition was an osprey shot in the neighbourhood. Considering that nine-tenths of the visitors do not probably know an osprey from an ostrich, and do not care, I think a museum is the wrong place for a bird which is nearly extinct. Words, however, have as little effect as the sandwich-boards carried about in London imploring women not to wear rare birds' feathers in their hats ”

“ Another is to keep a list of the apparatus to be used and check it every morning before starting out, or to keep everything likely to be wanted in the rucksack, as it is most annoying to find the absence of a small thing, such as a tripod screw, ruining a whole day's work. I use a Lancaster half-plate camera with Mackenzie Wishart envelopes. My favourite lens is one of fifteen-inch focus, because it gives a good-sized image, as I see no sense in going to the trouble of getting the camera within six feet of a shy bird and then being content with an image the size of a postage stamp. ”

“ The gull, after each stoop, easily recovered herself, and with a few beats of her great wings caught up with the Falcon and stooped again. The Falcon paid no attention, and after five minutes the gull flew away; but apparently not satisfied, it came back presently and renewed its attack; but the Falcon neither retaliated nor paid any attention except just to shift slightly each time the gull stooped. After the gull had gone I climbed down to the eyrie just as the Tiercel arrived and joined the Falcon in calling the alarm. When I got down to the shed I found Booth very upset. ”

“ My friend, Smith Whiting, whose bird photographs are a joy to all his intimates, holds strong views against the publication of any accounts of rare birds, as this, in his experience, only serves to betray them to egg-collectors, who really, in their lust for the eggs of such, seem to be born stamp-collectors who have, unfortunately, missed their true vocation. I do so, however, in the hope that my narrative may raise new friends for the Peregrine Falcon and other rare birds, and so lead to their better protection. ”

“ He holds each piece loosely in the tip of his beak and, tilting his head sideways, offers it to a youngster, who takes it most gently with its own beak-points crosswise to his.
With some mouthfuls they get a good deal of feathers and bone, but with the internal parts, intestines, etc., none at all. One youngster had a job with one of the thrush's legs, the foot and claws still sticking out of its mouth for a long time; but eventually it got it down. At 5.20 a.m, the long-drawn-out food cry of the Falcon is heard again. ”

“ The Tiercel again swallowed the remnants, including the other leg, and then covered the young, without paying any attention to the young female with the protruding claw. He dozed at intervals, and in closing his eyes I noticed that the lower lid, yellow in colour, rose slowly and covered the eye. He never dozed for more than a few seconds at a time, even when not disturbed by the youngsters moving under him. This often happened, the chief offender being the female with the claws. She on several occasions wriggled her head out from under his breast. ”

“ One of the young females, after she had preened, went to sleep at the front of the eyrie, and with her head tucked over her left shoulder looked as if decapitated. The young occasionally stand on one foot, generally the left. In preening they pass each feather through the beak, and the liberated down either floats away or is swallowed. When they shake themselves a lot comes off and floats away. One youngster cocked his head round and watched the down floating upwards. ”

“ Most mistakes in field-photography are due to getting flurried; therefore it is well to try and proceed slowly and methodically, even if seconds seem precious. Lastly, a rucksack is the most convenient means for transporting apparatus, and the safest, because a heavy bag swung over one shoulder is likely to suddenly shift when you are in some awkward situation and shake your nerve, if it does nothing worse. ”

“ When whimpering softly their cry is easily distinguished, but when loud is exactly like the adult's. At 1.40 p.m, the young will have been without food for exactly six hours. At 1.15 the Tiercel had been calling continuously for fifteen minutes, sometimes ten calls in a series, and always echoed by the young. If the Falcon is dead it will be interesting to see if the Tiercel does any hunting. At 1.20 I can hear a rock pipit flying about in alarm. I cannot hear the Tiercel's wings, but he may be hunting as he has stopped calling. At 1.30 p.m, he arrived with a whole unplucked puffin. ”

“ Notwithstanding their liveliness in getting to the front when feeding was going on, and the fact that the Tiercel always seemed to take care that the males got enough, yet one always seemed to fare the worst, so that at the end of their stay in the eyrie, though there was no perceptible difference between the two females, one of the males might always be singled out as the Benjamin of the family. ”

“ It is quite evident that he is the housekeeper, and that she does the hunting and catering. He makes a model father, but never attempts to hunt quarry himself, merely watching for her return. It is now 6.45 a.m., and the Tiercel has been on the look-out for the Falcon for some time. He is evidently getting anxious for her return, as he keeps moving from one point to another, occasionally closing his eyes and dozing, but making no attempt to hunt himself. 7 am.: No sign of the Falcon. The Tiercel has gone to sleep on C and the young are getting restless. ”