4 BULLETIN 170, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



* * * June 8th 1908 I found another nest of Gyrfalcon on the steep northern 

 side of the mountain Trekroner. This nest was placed at least 200 meters over 

 the level of the ground and was quite inaccessible. 



The enormously high heaps of excrements around the nest formed a large 

 whitish-yellow ledge and could be seen from a distance of 3 km. Around the 

 eyrie a colony of Barnacles (Anser leucopsis) had their nesting places. I was sur- 

 prised to see, that the Geese were sitting in couples on the projections close to the 

 Falcons. 



When I — by means of a pair of rifle bullets — caused the breeding falcon to 

 fly out of her nest, she and the male circled around the mountain in company 

 with the Geese for a long while. From a dizzy height the falcon at last swift as 

 an arrow shot down to the nest and was soon followed by the Barnacles, which 

 again confidently took their seat close by. 



This eyrie also looked as if it had been used from immemorial time. 



Falcons eyries were also recorded on the high rock Teufelkap and on a rock near 

 the M0rkefjord; both of them were — like the two already mentioned nests — built 

 on the northern side of the mountains. This was also the case with the 5th 

 nest of a bird of prey, which was found, and which certainly also belonged to a 

 Gyrfalcon. 



This can hardly be considered accidental; perhaps the falcons choose to nest 

 on places, which in the coldest time of the day and night are warmed by the mid- 

 night sun; it must be remembered, that the breeding-time is partly in May, in 

 which month the temperature of the nights is usually some degrees under zero. 



Lucien M. Turner, in his unpublished notes, records the nesting 

 of a pair of white gyrfalcons in northern Ungava, as follows: 



A pair was building their nest on the side of the bluff known as Hawk's Head, 

 some two miles north of Fort Chimo. I undertook to ascend the bluff by means 

 of a rope drawing me up a distance of 168 feet, where I had nothing to cling to 

 but the rope and be whirled round and round dozens of times (as the nest was on 

 a part which could not be reached from above) until, when I reached the spot 

 where the nest was located, I was so dizzy that I was glad to find a resting place; 

 and, when I attained the site, I put my foot directly on the half completed nest, 

 composed of a few sticks and a great quantity of dry grass, forming a bulk about 

 15 inches across the top and 3 inches high. The birds were whirling and screaming 

 off at a distance while a man was firing at them. The birds deserted the locality 

 and were not seen again. 



Audubon's (1840) account of the finding of a nest of white gyrfalcons 

 near Bras d'Or on the southern coast of Labrador on August 6, 1833, 

 seems worthy of credence. Both parent birds were shot at the nest, 

 and his drawing, made on the spot, is unmistakable. As this is far 

 south of the present known breeding range, it must have been a very 

 exceptional case. He describes the nest as follows: 



The nest of these hawks was placed on the rocks, about fifty feet from their 

 summit, and more than a hundred from their base. Two other birds of the same 

 species, and apparently in the same plumage, now left their eyry in the cliff, and 

 flew off. The party having ascended by a circuitous and dangerous route, con- 

 trived to obtain a view of the nest, which, however, was empty. It was composed 

 of sticks, sea-weeds, and mosses, about two feet in diameter, and almost flat. 

 About its edges were strewed the remains of their food, and beneath, on the margin 

 of .the stream, lay a quantity of wings of the Uria Troile, Mormon arclicus, and 

 Tetrao Saliceti, together with large pellets composed of fur, bones, and various 

 substances. 



