FALCONID^. 



343 



THE ICELAND FALCON. 



Falco islandus, J. F. Gmelin. 



In the Iceland Falcon the prevailing colour is either brown or 

 grey, according as the bird is young or old, and in the adult the 

 flanks are always more or less barred. The occurrences of this 

 species in the British Islands appear, so far as evidence goes, to be 

 less frequent than those of the Greenland Falcon, possibly because 

 there is not the same necessity for migration ; but identified 

 specimens have been obtained in the Shetlands, Orkneys, Outer 

 and Inner Hebrides, and in several localities on the mainland of 

 Scotland ; also in Northumberland, Westmoreland, Yorkshire, and 

 on Herm in the Channel Islands. In Ireland authentic examples 

 have been captured in Donegal, Antrim, and near BelmuUet and 

 Westport in co. Mayo — the last in 1883. 



The typical form of this Falcon inhabits Iceland, where it breeds 

 in precipitous cliffs above the numerous lakes — especially near 



