GREENLAND FALCON 359 



Greenland Falcon ^^'^^^^ the Greenland, or white falcon, which is only 

 (Faleo candieans) ^" occasional straggler to the British Islands, we 

 come to the first representative of the ger-falcons, 

 or, as they are often called, jir- falcons or gyr- falcons ; the name 

 apparently having reference to the gyrations of their flight. Typically 

 the ger-falcons are characterised by the equality in the length of the 

 outer and inner toes, thus differing from the peregrine-group in which 

 the former is the longer ; and they are further characterised by the 

 shorter and more rounded wing, in which the first primary quill is not 

 longer than the third, and may be shorter. On these grounds the 

 ger-falcons (which are superior in size to the peregrine) are referred 

 by many ornithologists to a genus by themselves, under the name 

 of Hierofalco. Since, however, the Indian saker, or cherrug falcon 

 {Falco cherrug), forms in some degree a connecting link between the 

 typical falcons and the ger-falcons, it seems preferable to retain the 

 latter in the original genus. 



Its white plumage and large size (length 23 inches in the 

 female and a couple of inches less in her partner) render the adult 

 Greenland falcon a bird which cannot be mistaken either when in flight 

 or preserved in a museum. In the fully adult condition it is almost pure 

 white with scarcely any spotting, except sometimes on the back, when 

 there may be a variable number of oval black spots, the breast having 

 either only a few such spots or being entirely white. On the upper- 

 parts of young birds there are broad, more or less chevron-like brown 

 markings, drop-shaped spots on the under-parts, and bars on the tail ; 

 the adult white dress being assumed after the first moult. In the 

 adults the beak and the bare skin at its base (" cere ") are pale yellow, 

 while the e\'e is dark brown ; but in young birds bluish grey replaces 

 the yellow. 



As might be inferred from its colouring, or rather absence of 

 colouring, the white falcon is essentially an Arctic species, probably 

 with a circumpolar range. From time to time, however, a certain 

 number of, mostly immature, individuals visit the British Isles and 

 other parts of north-western Europe, during the autumn and winter 

 migrations. Up to the year 1900 it would appear that between 

 thirty and forty instances of the occurrence of this handsome species 

 in our islands had been recorded, a few of these being represented by 

 two or more individuals.^ There have, however, doutbless been others, 



1 Mr. Harting {Handbook oj British Birds) records twenty-nine occurrences, inclusive 

 of thirteen Irish specimens, but as Mr. Ussher (Birds of Ireland) claims nineteen from 

 Ireland, the former list cannot be regarded as complete, as indeed is stated at its conclusion. 



