14 BULLETIN 170, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



it may be secured. Their food is devoured on the ground. I have 

 never seen them carry it in their talons." 



During their winter wanderings they feed on whatever living prey 

 they can find, such as rabbits, squirrels, rats, domestic poultry, grouse, 

 and wild ducks and geese. A bird in my collection, shot at Tiverton, 

 R. I., on December 26, 1896, was hovering over some wooden duck 

 decoys, as if about to pounce upon one of them. Henry A. Purdie 

 (1879) recorded the capture of a gyrfalcon in Piscataquis County, 

 Maine, in December 1876, of which he says: "It had caught several 

 hens, and having pursued one under a barn through a small opening 

 was itself caught in the arms of a man as it came out." Arthur H. 

 Norton (1907) records the capture of a specimen near Portland, 

 Maine, on December 11, 1906; he writes: "It swooped into the hen 

 yard of Mrs. John Smith on Allen Avenue, killing a large, pugnacious 

 rooster, which it speedily began to devour." 



Behavior. — Mr. Turner's notes state that "their manner of flight is 

 by extremely rapid wing beats followed by sailing for a few rods. 

 They pass through the air with great rapidity ; no bird of prey in those 

 regions flies more rapidly. They dart upon their prey at a dash, 

 bringing up, just at the moment of seizing, in an almost perpendicular 

 position, doubtless to stop their momentum. I do not think they 

 attempt to fly over the bird they wish to seize, but secure it by flying 

 against and seizing it during the moment of shock. They fall to the 

 ground with the bird seized." 



Maj. Allan Brooks (1900) says: "The flight of this Falcon is as a 

 rule rather slow compared with that of other large Falcons, but when 

 in pursuit of a Duck it gets up a tremendous velocity and can turn and 

 twist almost as quickly as a Goshawk. In ordinary flight the wing 

 stroke is much shorter than a Peregrine's, and the bird when going 

 straight away appears to be hovering like a Kestrel." 



Sir John Richardson (Swainson and Richardson, 1831) had a pair 

 of gyrfalcons attack him while he was climbing in the vicinity of their 

 nest; he writes: "They flew in circles, uttering loud and harsh screams, 

 and alternately stooping with such velocity, that their motion through 

 the air produced a loud rushing noise; they struck their claws within 

 an inch or two of my head. I endeavoured, by keeping the barrel of 

 my gun close to my cheek, and suddenly elevating its muzzle when they 

 were in the act of striking, to ascertain whether they had the power of 

 instantaneously changing the direction of their rapid course, and 

 found that they invariably rose above the obstacle with the quickness 

 of thought, showing equal acuteness of vision and power of motion." 



Voice. — Turner says: "The only note ever heard from this hawk was 

 a chattering scream of the syllables, ke a, ke a, ke a, repeated a number 

 of times, more rapidly toward the fifth or sixth utterance, and finally 



