44< Review of the new Cunthmation 



many who have given their opinion on the subject *. We shall 

 endeavour to adduce proper authority for our reasons, and while 

 leaving the conclusion to our readers, strive to be as concise as 

 possible in our statements f. 



In Gmelin's edition (1788) of Linnseus's celebrated ' Systema 

 Naturae,^ the three races of large Northern Falcons are defined 

 as accurately as many other birds about which no doubt has ever 

 arisen. Two of them are regarded as specifically distinct; the 

 third is considered a variety of the second. They stand thus 

 under the genus Falco : — 



" Gyrfalco. 27. F. cera cserulea, pedibus luteis, corpore fusco, 

 subtus fasciis cmereis, caudse lateribus albis. Fn. Suec. 64. 



• . • . ; • : • . • • . . • • t 



Habitat in Europa, gruibus, ardeis, columbis infestus. 

 Variat pedibus cceruleis et flavis. 

 " CANDiCANs. 101. F. cera pedibusque ex cserulescente cinereis, 

 corpore albo fusco-maculato. 



" ISLANDICUS. /3. ....... j 



Habitat in Islandia et Scotia hoveaVi, palumba7-ii magnitudine ; 

 rostrum ex cieruleo-cinereuin, apice nigricans ; ungues plum- 

 bei ; irides et orbitse ccerulea (^. irides lutea). /3. Corpus 

 supra fuscum, dorsi et alarum maculis albis, subtus album 

 nigro maculatum. Pedes flavi." — Gmel. Sgst. Nat. I. i. 

 p. 375. 



Since Gmelin's time, so much has the subject been confused, 

 that though the names he, as just quoted, gave to these birds 

 are theoretically entitled to priority §, he cannot be regarded as 

 their practical describer. Still less, as it seems to us, have any 

 other old writers such claims ; and of modern authors it appears 

 to have been Pastor Brehm who, in 1823 ('Lehrbuch,' pp. 43- 



* See the rejiort of the animated debate on the subject which took 

 place at Brunswick, 5 June, 1855 (' Naumannia,' v. 22/). 



t Our remarks will be found to be an amplification of those made in the 

 text to plates 34 and 35 of Wolf and Sclater's ' Zoological Sketches.' 



I The references not Linnean are purposely omitted here, that the 

 matter may appear less complicated. 



§ Unless indeed it can be accurately ascertained what Fabricius, in 1780, 

 ('Fauna Grccnlandica,' pp. 55-58) meant by his Falco rusticolus, F. 

 fiiscus, and F. islandus. 



