332 GREENLAND FALCON. 



from time to time been taken in the British Islands, in winter ; 

 naturally, with greater frequency in Scotland and the northern 

 districts of England than in the south, though an immature bird, 

 the subject of the present figure and now in the British Museum, 

 was shot in Pembrokeshire, and examples have been obtained in 

 Sussex and Cornwall. Ireland, as might be expected from its 

 geographical position, has not been unfavoured, and no fewer than 

 eight specimens were obtained at different points along the west 

 coast in the winter of 1883-4. 



The Greenland Falcon breeds in the northern portion of the 

 country from which it takes its name, and Mr. Chichester Hart, 

 the naturalist to H.M.S. ' Discovery,' saw a pair nesting on Grinnell 

 Land, in 79° 41' N. lat. ; while westward it can be traced to Alaska, 

 and across Bering Straits to the winter quarters of the ' Vega ' on 

 the Asiatic side ; and in spring to the Amur. The record is defec- 

 tive as regards Arctic Siberia, and no example has been obtained 

 from Novaya Zemlya, although this species occurs on Spitsbergen. 

 Turning to Europe, the difficulty of distinguishing the ' Gyrs ' 

 recorded on migration becomes extreme ; but undoubted examples 

 of the Greenland bird have been obtained as far south as the 

 French side of the Pyrenees. 



The eggs, sometimes 4 in number, are pale reddish-orange in 

 ground-colour with darker mottlings and spots, measuring about 2*2 

 by I '8 in., and are placed on a bare ledge of rock, or on the old 

 nest of some other bird. This species is said to visit Iceland in 

 winter, though Mr. B. Grdndal has never met with it there ; thence, 

 however, were brought the ' white falcons,' accepted as tribute or as 

 gifts worthy of royalty in the Middle Ages. The food consists of 

 Ptarmigan and ^^'illow- Grouse, lemmings and other mammals; but 

 owing to the scarcity of prey in the high north, this species is 

 necessarily forced to migrate southward more often than its con- 

 geners. 



The adult is white with blackish bars or blotches on the upper 

 parts, the under parts being pure white or only slightly spotted ; 

 but the individual variation is very great. In the first plumage the 

 markings are brownish and very broad above, but drop-shaped below, 

 the tail being more or less barred. The adult dress is assumed at 

 the first moult, and never varies afterwards. Length of the male 

 21 in. ; of the female 23 in. ; wing 15-16 in. Cere, legs and feet 

 pale yellow in the adult ; light bluish-grey in the young. In this, 

 as in all true Falcons, the irides are dark hazel — not yellow, as in 

 the Hawks. 



