FALCONID.K — THE FALCONS. HlJ 



Gerfalcon of tlie McKenzie Eiver region, oceurrinE; from the Slave Lake to 

 Anderson IJiver and the Yukon, is the form elsewhere given as the F.saccr. 

 Along our eastern coast region occurs another form, the F. luhradora, whicii 

 is the bird met with in Labrador, and described by Mr. Audubon. Tlie /'". 

 candicans or grcenlandims is a form peculiar to Greenland, visiting also, in 

 the winter, the Hudson's Bay region ; while the F. islandicus, a well-known 

 European form, occurs in Greenland also, and occasionally farther south. 



Holboll, in his account of the birds of Greenland (Isis, 1845), appears to 

 recognize but one species of Gerfalcon as occurring there, to which he gives 

 the name of islandicus. This is, he states, the most abundant Falcon in 

 Greenland, and is equally common in the northern and in the southern 

 parts. Their great variations in color he regarded as indicative of differences 

 in ages to only a very limited e.\tent, and as in no respect specific. These 

 differences in color were found among both nestlings and breeding birds, 

 white and dark birds being found together in both circumstances. The 

 white birds were more numerous in Northern Greenland, and the dark ones 

 oftener seen in the southern portion. 



He found the young birds moulting throughout the winter. On the 4th 

 of January, 1840, he shot a young female that showed signs of moulting 

 about the liead and neck, with a striped white appearance from the sprout- 

 ing feathers. The ovaries were quite well developed, and it was evident that 

 the birds of this species breed in the first season after their birth. Hol- 

 boll adds that they breed in January, that their eggs are of nearly the same 

 color as those of the Ptarmigan, but are twice as large. They nest usually 

 in inaccessible clilfs. They prey chietly upon water-fowl and Ptarmigans, 

 and usually build near "bird rocks," from which they obtain the young 

 without much trouble. He mentions having once seen one with a young 

 Larus tridadylus in each foot, and another with two TriiKjn maritiina carried 

 in the same manner. Its rapidity of flight Holboll did not regard as ^■ery 

 great. He had for years kept pigeons, and only lost two young birds, which 

 were seized when at rest. Almost every day, especially in October and 

 Xovember, these Falcons would chase the old Pigeons unsuccessfully, and 

 were often shot when they followed them too near the house. They were 

 not particularly shy, and were occasionally decoyed and killed by throwing 

 a dead bird towards them. 



During the summer they are most numerous along the bays, especially 

 where there are " bird-rocks " near. In Septemlier they go southerly along 

 the coast, and also in October and Xovember. At this time they are not rare, 

 and approach the houses of the Danes, near which they are often seen fight- 

 ing with the Ravens. Their spring migrations are not so regular as they 

 are in the autumn, or ]ierhaps at this time they do not approach the houses 

 so frequently. When they are near the settlements, it is noticed that in the 

 morning they fly towards the south, and in the evening towards the north. 



Piichardson speaks of the Gerfalcon as a constant resident in the Hudson 



