FALCO CANDICANS. 85 



FALCO CANDICANS, Gmelin. 

 GREENLAND FALCON. 



[Mr. Wolley, as I believe is pretty well kno-wm, was strongly of opinion 

 that the large Falcons from Greenland, Iceland, and Scandinavia were only 

 local, though always recognizable, races of one and the same species, and he 

 wished to distinguish them by a geographical agnomen. My allegiance, 

 however, to the binomial principle of nomenclatm-e prevents me from follow- 

 ing his suggestion. That the characters of the three birds are quite penna- 

 nent, and in two of them shai-ply defined, is, I think, now fully admitted 

 by the best authorities on the subject (Hancock, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 2ud ser. xiii. pp. 110-112; Blasius, Joui-n. fiir Orn. 18G2, pp. 43-59; and 

 Schlegel, Mus. des Pays-Bas, Falcones, pp. 7-14). I myself have never yet 

 seen an adult specimen, even of the two forms that most nearly resemble 

 each other, about the determination of which I had any great diificulty. I 

 therefore consider it most convenient to treat them here as separate species, 

 though I think it more than probable that they have sprung from a common 

 stock.] 



§ 184. 0;^^.— Greenland. '* Bird killed." From Captain llol- 

 boll's Collection, through Mr. S. Stevens, 1855. 



§ 185. Two. — Greenland. "Bird killed." From Captain Hol- 

 boll's Collection, through Mr. S. Stevens, 1855. 



These eggs were bought by me, Nov. 12th, of Mr. Stevens. He 

 showed me Holboll's letters and everything. There were two or 

 three eggs professedly added to the lot in Denmark ; but all the rest 

 were from Greenland, and apparently carefully separated. The two 

 which are marked " F. arcticus " w^ere in a box by themselves, and 

 the one specimen marked " F. islandicus^' in another box. A 

 number of skins were sent with them, ticketed " F. islandicus " and 

 " F. arcticus/' the former the more marked, and the latter the less 

 marked skins, but all without exception the Greenland Falcon of 

 Mr. Hancock ^ 



' [A statement of what Capt. HolboU is supposed to have meant by his un- 

 described " Falco arcticus " and " F. islandicus " is to be found in ' The Ibis ' for 

 1862 (vol. iv. p. 50, note). It does not entirely agTee with what Mr. WoUey says 

 in the above passage ; but the matter is of veiy slight consequence in the present 

 instance. — Ed.] 



