40 FALCONID.E. 



winter, occur regularly in Iceland, and not unfrequently in 

 the Dominion of Canada, from Newfoundland (where, ac- 

 cording to Mr. Reeks, it is a pretty regular visitant in the 

 fall) westward, the United States, the British Islands, and 

 even in countries still more remote from the place of their 

 birth. They are, no doubt, driven away by their parents, as 

 is commonly the habit of birds-of-prey, and follow the large 

 flocks of water-fowl, which are bred in the north, on their 

 southward migration, though it would appear that the Ptar- 

 migan forms the chief sustenance of the old birds. At the 

 same time, it must not be supposed that in Greenland the 

 white form only is found. In the southern districts of that 

 country, the Iceland Falcon is certainly more numerous, and, 

 on the other hand, there is good reason for believing that the 

 Greenland Falcon breeds in some of the northern parts of 

 British America, and perhaps even in the Old World. 

 Writing of what was doubtless this form of Falcon, Sir 

 John Richardson, in the ' Fauna Boreali- Americana,' says : — 



*' In the middle of June, 1821, a pair of these birds 

 attacked me as I was climbing in the vicinity 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 or two 

 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 direc- 

 tion of their rapid course, and found that they invariably 

 rose above the obstacle with the quickness of thought, show- 

 ing equal acuteness of vision and power of motion. Although 

 their flight was much more rapid, they bore considerable 

 resemblance to the Snowy Owl." 



Sir John also remarks that at the season at which he saw 

 them, the ground was still partially covered with snow and 

 the lakes with ice, but that this bird, like the Owl just men- 

 tioned, is well adapted, " from the whiteness of its plumage, 



