ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



205 



London Fish. Exhib., p. 304 (1883).— Saunders, Ibia, 1863, p. 350.— Dybow- 



8KI, Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1883, p. 351. — Hierofalco c. Stejnegkr, Pr. U. 



S. Nat. Mus., 188.3, p. 71. 

 1790. — Falco ialandicus Latham, Ind. Orn., I, p. 32. — Audubon, Birds Am. (pi. ccclxvi) 



(1831). 

 1806.— FaZco grcenlandiciis TuRTON, Gen. Syst. Nat., I (p. 147) (nee Daudin, 1800). — 



Hancock, Ann. N. H., 11, p. 249. 

 1854.— i^aZco islandicus caudicans Holboll, Zeitschr. Ges. Naturw., Ill (p. 426). 

 1860. — Falco gyrfalco var. candicans Schrenck, Reis. Amurl., I, p. 228. — Hierofalco g. c. 



Nelson, Cruise Corwin, pp. 77 and 56 e (1883.) 

 1874. — Hierofalco holboelli Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., I, pi. xiii, right-hand figure. 



The White Gyrfalcon breeds on Bering Island, though in limited num- 

 bers only. A pair had their nest in a steep and inaccessible rock in the 

 so-called "JSTakovalnaja," a couple of miles from the main village. One 

 of the old birds (No. 89126) was shot on the 27th of August. It is pure 

 white underneath, spotted above, with black streaks on the crown and 

 blackish, cordate spots on back and wings; the tail is uniform white, 

 with dusky mottlings along the edges. This bird is the whitest of a 

 large series in the National Museum. 



The other specimen (Xo. 92722), a female, shot May 2, 1883, is pure 

 and unspotted white below ; the dark spots on the upper surface are 

 brownish and very much faded and rather few; the form of these spots 

 shows that the bird is in the " tear dropped" stage; the streaks on top 

 of head are very narrow ; tail uniform white, with only faint brownish 

 mottling along the edge. 



The breeding of the White Gyrfalcon under latitude 55° is very inter- 

 esting, and affords additional proof of the distinctness of this species as 

 compared with F. gyrfalco and its allies. As to the name here applied, 

 Falco islandus, I refer to my article in "The Auk," 1885, p. 185. 



List of specimens obtained. 



No. 89126.— Bill blui.sh white, with a faint yellowish tinge, dark bluish gray at tip; cere dark 

 bluish gray. Feet white, with a faint bluish tinge above, and a more yellowish cast below; nails 

 dark bluish gray, whitish along the edges. 



No. 92T22.— Bill very light bluish gray, tip and tooth darker; cere and naked eye-ring with a faint 

 yellowish wash. Feet white, with a faint bluish and yellowish tiuge, both colors independently dis- 

 cernible; claws light horny brownish gray, at tip and below whitish. Extremely fat. In the crop 

 was found meat, fat, and feathers of a gulL 



