not observed in the British Isles.' 85 



bird more used to civilized and persecuting man, without giving 

 liis readers due warning that, after all, it may not be strictly ap- 

 plicable to the subject of his notice. He omits also to mention 

 that the rich tawny hue of the under surface in some individuals 

 of the Lammergeyer is probably owing to a stain, the effect of 

 bathing in muddy water or of rolling in the sand with wet plu- 

 mage ; certainly the specimens we see from the snowy peaks of 

 the Alps and Pyrenees are without any trace of this brilliant 

 colouring. 



We now come to the Falconida ; and we are especially pleased 

 to find Mr. Bree according a place to the true Gyrfalcon [F. gyr- 

 falco, Schl.), which we consider to form a race, to call it by the 

 least worthy name, perfectly distinct from either the Greenland 

 or Iceland birds [F. candicans, Gm. and F. islandicus, Sab.), with 

 which it has so often been confounded. But our gratification 

 is somewhat impaired by his insisting on calling it Falco gyr- 

 falco norvegicus, — not so much on the ground that the binominal 

 system of nomenclature should be strictly adhered to (for we 

 consider that its advantages are so universally recognized, that a 

 trifling deviation from the letter of the law can make no mate- 

 rial difl"erence), as because this name would imply there was 

 also a '' gyrfalco " not " norvegicus." Naturalists are apt to 

 forget that, if any respect should be shown to old authors, it 

 is especially in the case of these noble birds, which at all times 

 and in all places were the companions of our forefathers, and 

 whose every peculiarity was studied in a manner that now-a-days 

 no one, except an occasional votary of the ancient recreation, 

 has any conception of. No falconer in time past or present 

 would ever think of calling an " Icelander " a " Gyrfalcon.^^ 

 With him the Gyrfalcon is, and always has been, the large falcon 

 obtained from Norway, or accidentally in more southern coun- 

 tries, with dark, almost Peregrine-like cheeks, a stout body, short 

 tail, and other distinctive marks which it is unnecessary here to 

 describe ; and to apply its proper name to the denizen of another 

 land sounds to him as irregular and unmeaning as when we 

 hear our Transatlantic cousins call a bird akin to our Fieldfare 

 by the familiar name of "Robin." It must be remembered 

 that many of the earlier naturalists, if not falconers themselves, 



