GYR FALCON. 289 



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 posi- 

 tion 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 impe- 

 diment 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." Only four individuals were seen, which were be- 

 lieved to be of one family. The nest, which was placed on a 

 precipice, " was composed of sticks, sea-weeds, and mosses, 

 about two feet in diameter, and almost flat." 



Dr Richardson, who found it a constant resident in the 

 Hudson's Bay territories, where it is named the Speckled Part- 

 ridge Hawk and the Winterer, and where it usually preys on 

 the Ptarmigan, although it also destroys Plovers, Ducks, and 

 even Geese, gives the following anecdote illustrative of its bold- 

 ness in defence of its young : " In the middle of June 1821, a 

 pair of these birds attacked me, as I was climbing in the vici- 

 nity of their nest, which was built on a lofty precipice on the 

 borders of Point Lake, in latitude 65^°. 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 

 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, shewing equal acute- 

 ness of vision and power of motion." 



VOL. III. u 



