WHITE GYRFALCON 7 



says: "I often had an opportunity of witnessing this hawk preying 

 upon jaegers, kittiwakes, &c, but was surprised that they are not 

 possessed of swifter flight. A duck hawk would have made a short 

 job of catching a kittiwake that one of these hawks followed till he 

 fairly tired the bird out. Their success seems to depend more upon 

 a stubborn perseverance than alacrity of flight." 

 Audubon (1840) writes: 



Their (light resembled that of the Peregrine Falcon, but was more elevated, 

 majestic, and rapid. They rarely sailed when travelling to and fro, but used a 

 constant beat of their wings. When over the Puffins, and high in the air, they 

 would hover almost. motionless, as if watching the proper moment to close their 

 pinions, and when that arrived, they would descend almost perpendicularly on 

 their unsuspecting victims. 



Their cries also resembled those of the Peregrine Falcon, being loud, shrill, 

 and piercing. Now and then they would alight on some of the high stakes placed 

 on the shore as beacons to the fishermen who visit the coast, and stand for a few 

 minutes, not erect like most other Hawks, but in the position of a Lestris or Tern, 

 after which they would resume their avocations, and pounce upon a Puffin, which 

 they generally did while the poor bird was standing on the ground at the very 

 entrance of its burrow, apparently quite unaware of the approach of its powerful 

 enemy. The Puffin appeared to form no impediment to the flight of the Hawk, 

 which merely shook itself after rising in the air, as if to arrange its plumage, as 

 the Fish Hawk does when it has emerged from the water with a fish in its talons. 



Turner says, in his notes: "The manner of flight is by rapid beats of 

 the wings followed by a short sail. They dart with astounding 

 swiftness among a flock of ptarmigans and seize them while the prey 

 is flying or on the run. The hawk carries the bird to a convenient 

 spot to be devoured; or oftentimes consumes it where it was taken. 

 This depends on the particular location, which, if commanding a good 

 view, the falcon will not carry the food, but, if it is in a low spot, the 

 ptarmigan is usually carried to higher ground. I have never seen this 

 hawk alight in trees, always on the earth." 



Dr. W. Elmer Ekblaw thus describes, in his notes, an attack on a 

 glaucous gull by a pair of white gyrfalcons, probably in an attempt to 

 drive the gull away from the vicinity of then nest: 



The big gull seemed much harassed. While I watched he appeared to become 

 fatigued and more vulnerable to the attack. At first he evaded every stoop the 

 falcons made, either by rising to meet them or by suddenly dodging. He would 

 fly fast and strong in a straight line and then suddenly, as the hawks caught up 

 with him and gained the advantage by being above him, he would double abruptly 

 on his course while the falcons, apparently not able to alter the direction of their 

 flight so quickly as he, would lose both distance and advantage by sailing on by 

 him. Whenever the hawks pounced down upon him, he would rise quickly and 

 obliquely to meet them, but at the last of the fight, as I saw it, he failed to meet 

 them promptly as at first and they often succeeded in striking him about the head. 

 Always as they did so, he screamed angrily and worriedly. The method of the 

 attack of the falcons was to rise above him and dash or stoop down upon him from 

 behind, first one striking him and then the other, and then rising above him again. 

 Immediately after each strike they would give a piercing whistle. 



