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Cere - The area at the base of the bill or beak.
Clutch - A group of eggs or chicks in a nest.
DDT - dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a colorless insecticide widely used during the ’50s and ’60s whose side effects wreaked havoc on a number of species, including the peregrine. Though banned in the U.S. since 1972, DDT is still in use in South America, where many peregrines winter.
Egg tooth - A hard pointed knob on the top of the beak of an unhatched peregrine (or other bird) used to break out of the shell.
Eyas or eyass - A young peregrine still in the nest (or a raptor taken while still a nestling).
Falconry - The art of training falcons to capture wild game or fowl for a human hunter. Also known as hawking.
Hack/hacking - Giving birds complete liberty. Falconers may "hack" young birds during the training process so they can develop their flying skills.
Haggard - A mature wild hawk or falcon.
Mews - Main living area for a raptor.
Raptor - A bird of prey.
Scrape - A nest.
Stoop - The hunting technique in which the raptor folds its wings and dives at its prey. Peregrines, which only hunt other birds, can reach more than 200 miles an hour.
Tiercel - Male raptor. Technically, only the female is a "falcon."