ICELAND FALCON 



l6i 



tipped with white and barred with blackish ; the under-parts are white 

 streaked with blackish drop-like spots down the middle of the breast, 

 and barred along the flanks, the under tail -coverts being likewise 

 barred ; the beak is pale blue, with the bare skin at its base, like the 

 legs and toes, yellow ; while the eye is dark brown. Brown is the 

 prevailing colour of the upper-parts in immature birds, with whitish 

 edges to the feathers ; the tail being brown with broad white bars, the 

 throat white, the remainder of the under-parts marked with broad 

 brown streaks, and bluish 

 grey replacing the yellow 

 of the bare parts. A 

 f e m a 1 e Iceland falcon 

 measuring 23 inches in 

 length weighed 3 lbs. 14 

 oz., against 3 lbs. I'l^ oz. 

 in a female of the Green- 

 land species whose length 

 was 2 i^ inches. 



Only thirteen instances 

 (one represented by several 

 individuals) of the occur- 

 rence of this species in the 

 British Islands, exclusive of 

 the Channel Islands, appear 

 to have been recorded up 

 to 1 900, of which one 

 alone was Irish. A second 

 Irish example — an imma- 

 ture female — was, however, 

 obtained in Galway in the 

 spring of 1905. It should 

 be added that among the 



various whitish falcons reported from different parts of the kingdom, 

 but not definitely identified, some m.ay have belonged to the present 

 bird. 



The true Norwegian ger-falcon {F. gyrfalco), which is too rare a 

 bird in our islands to be accorded a definite place in the British list, 

 is very similar in general colouring, when adult, to a peregrine, 

 although of course distinguished by the characters of the wings and 

 feet. The end of the tail lacks, however, the dark shade so distinctive 

 of the peregrine. The head is always dark ; and the barring of the 



ICELAND FALCON. 



