THE OSPEEY. 18 



the Cape of Good Hope, India, and New Holland. In 

 America, we have already seen, it is abundant. It builds 

 its nest of sticks on some rock or ruin, generally near the 

 water, and lays two or three eggs. 



THE GYE FALC0:N". 



FALCO GYRFALCO. 



Tail longer thau the wings ; plumage white, with dusky spots and lines ; 

 young birds mostly dull brown above, the feathers acquiring a broader white 

 margin every year; beak pale blue ; cere and feet yellow. Length of male, 

 one foot ten inches ; of female, two feet. 



This noble bird, the prince of the Falcon tribe, can only 

 be considered as a stray visitor in Great Britain. It is 

 equally uncommon on the other side of the Channel : a 

 young untrained bird having been sold at Havre in 1842 

 for 500 francs, or 201. Iceland, Greenland, and ISTorway 

 are its European homes. It is not unfrequent in jSTorth 

 America, and it is imported from Tartary and sold at Con- 

 stantinople, Aleppo, and Damascus. It is not probable 

 that the Gyr Ealcon was ever abundant in England, for at 

 a very remote period it was \^alued at a very high price, 

 and was thought a bribe worthy of a king. Thus Nicho- 

 las the Dane sti]3ulated to give King John a Hawk every 

 time he came into England, that he might have liberty to 

 traffic through the King's dominions ; and in the reign of 

 James I. Sir Thomas Morison is said to have given WOOL 

 for " a cast," that is, a couple of Hawks. 



In its native haunts, the Gyr Falcon feeds on hares, 

 ptarmigans, and sea-fowl. Its mode of taking its prey 

 is thus described by Audubon : " They rarely sailed when 

 travelling to and fro between their nest and an island 

 where multitudes ri Puffins were breeding, and to which 

 they daily resorted, but used a constant beat of their 

 wings. When over the Puffins, and high in the air, they 



