FALCO GYRFALCO. 95 



Ludwig's note says, " The nest was on a cliff. They snared the hen, 

 but the cock they could not get. They tried to wait as long as they 

 possibly could, but he came again no more." The hen is the very 

 black-headed bird, I suppose the typical Falco gyrfalco of Schlegel ; 

 but I take it to be an adult of the first year, both from the dark beak 

 and the character of the long wing-feathers, whose light interspaces 

 are not speckled ; it has also moulted each fifth pen-feather. 



[The bird was given to Mr. Gould by Mr. WoUey.] 



§ 209. 7%re^.— West Fiiimark, 29 April, 1857. "With hen 

 bird." 



These were brought by the captor to Ludwig, who Avrites : — " There 

 were four eggs, but he broke one to pieces on the way. The night be- 

 fore, he set snares for the birds, and the hen came straightway, but 

 the cock came not. It was so cold that he could not wait lone:, lest 

 the eggs should freeze asunder." One of these is a remarkably 

 pinky egg. 



[The hen bird caught on this nest is now in the British Museum.] 



§ 210. One. — Hanhi-jarwi-maa, Enontekis Lappmark, 18 May, 

 1857. " From nest in a tree." 



Brought to Muoniovaara, 18th June of that year, by a man who 

 said it was the egg of the middle-sized Koppelo-Haukka [Astur pa- 

 lumbarius], and that he found it as above stated. He tried to shoot 

 the bird, but could not get near enough. The egg was a little 

 broken, being sprung by the young one. A girl told me at Muo- 

 niovaara, 4th August 1857, that she was in company with the finder 

 and another man when they took this egg. They were on their way 

 back from a Sunday visit to the two houses in Suontajarwi, which 

 is a mile and a quarter (Swedish) from Muotkajarwi. The nest 

 was nearer the former place than the latter; and she said that one 

 of the men had, two years before, thrown the young out of it. The 

 tree in which it was is on the edge of a very large marsh, on the 

 north side of it, with no pines between it and the tree; and the 

 nest was placed just at the top, which was but a little on one side, 

 so as to give a place of support. It might be seven fathoms high. 

 The marsh is called Hanhi-uoma, at least in that part where the 

 nest was, but it has difierent names in different places. At about 



