American Bird- Visitors to Ireland. 127 



occurs the so-called " Black" Jer-Falcon, of a nearly uniform 

 dark brown. Around Baffin's Bay the bird is nearly pure 

 white, while in Southern Alaska, the Fur Countries, Southern 

 Greenland, Iceland, and Norway, various forms occur between 

 these two extremes. 



The White Jer-Falcon, with which we are now concerned, 

 has occurred ten or twelve times in Ireland, eight having 

 been taken in the winter of 1883-4. They have usually been 

 found along the west coast, which in winter almost rivals 

 their distant home in stormy desolation and rugged grandeur. 



We call this an American bird, yet very few Americans 

 have ever seen it alive ; indeed, I do not know if it has ever 

 been noticed in the United States. Its centre of distribution 

 is the northern shores of Baffin's Bay and Smith's Sound, and 

 it probably occurs throughout the archipelago to the west- 

 ward. As far north as man has penetrated this Falcon has 

 been found. In that mysterious land of ice and snow, that 

 has so long defied the explorer's skill and courage, and has as 

 yet given up but a part of its secrets to the so-called lord of 

 creation, the White Jer-Falcon has its home. Among the 

 eternal snows in which it lives, its white dress is highly pro- 

 tective — not to protect it from enemies, for such a bird need 

 fear none, but, as in the case of the bears, foxes, and owls of 

 the same region, to aid it in the pursuit of its prey. The 

 bleak hillsides furnish it many a meal of Ptarmigan or Arctic 

 Hare, the cliffs are visited in pursuit of the Auks and Puffins 

 that breed there in myriads, and even the tyrant Gulls are 

 not safe from its attacks. One has been seen carrying off a 

 Kittiwake Gull in each foot. 



As the White Jer-Falcon lives above the limits of the forest- 

 growth, it always nests on the ground, though some of the 

 more southern races build in trees. The nest is roughly built 

 of sticks, grass, and moss, and is placed most frequently on a 

 ledge of some high cliff. The eggs are creamy white, very 

 thickly marked with shades of reddish brown. 



In the days of falconry the white bird was the most highly 

 valued of all hawks for the chase, and fabulous sums were 

 paid for trained birds of this species ; indeed, their possession 

 was almost confined to royalty. But this most interesting 

 subject cannot be entered on here, and we must leave the 

 reader to pursue elsewhere his studies of this fascinating 

 chapter in the history of the White Jer-Falcon. 



