THE BIRD BOOK 



FALCONS AND CARACARAS 

 Family FALCONDIDAE 





353. White Gyrfalcon. Falco islandus. 



Range. — Arctic regions; south in winter cas- 

 ually to northern United States, chiefly on the 

 coast. 



Gyrfalcons are large, strong, active and fear- 



Gray Gyrfalcon 



White Gyrfalcon 



Buff 



less birds, about 23 inches in length. Their food consists chiefly of hares, 

 Ducks and Waders which abound in the far north. The present species is 

 snowy white, more or less barred with blackish brown on the back and wings 

 and with a few marks on the breast. They nest upon the ledges of high cliffs, 

 laying three or four eggs of a buffy color, blotched and finely specked with 

 reddish brown, this color often concealing the ground color. Size of eggs, 2.30 x 

 1.80. In America, they nest in Greenland and the Arctic regions. 



354. Gray Gyrfalcon. Falco rusticolus rusticolus. 



Range. — Arctic regions; south in 

 winter to northern United States. 



This species is of the size of the last 

 but the plumage is largely gray, bar- 

 red with dusky. They nest more 

 abundantly in southern Greenland than 

 do the preceding species. The nesting 

 habits and eggs do not differ. 



354a. Gyrfalcon. 



Falco rusticolus gyrfalco. 



Range. — Arctic regions; south cas- 

 ually to Long Island. 



This sub-species is hardly to be dis- 

 tinguished from the preceding; its 

 nesting habits and eggs are identical, 

 the nests being of sticks, lined with weeds and feathers and placed upon the 

 most inaccessible ledges of cliffs. 



218 



Buff 



