ICELAND FALCON. 51 



highly as did their predecessors. Still it is occasionall}' 

 used at the present day, and mostly for catching Hares, 

 Years ago it was much in vogue for taking the Kite, which 

 often afforded excellent sport. When one of these birds 

 was seen soaring aloft, an Owl, having a Fox's brush tied to 

 its leg, was thrown up, whereon the Kite, imagining the 

 Owl was carrying off a quarry, would descend, the Falcons 

 were let go, and occasionally a flight of several miles in 

 length followed. 



In the adult Iceland Falcon, as represented by the front 

 figure of the engraving, the crown and sides of the head and 

 the nape are wliite, slightly tinged with ochreous, each feather 

 having a greyish-brown longitudinal streak, sometimes 

 so broad that the white is reduced to a narrow margin. 

 There is generally more or less trace of a decided mystacial 

 stripe, and the ear-coverts are darker than the rest of the 

 head. The back, rump and wing-coverts are of a brownish- 

 grey, each feather with a narrow border and one or more 

 interrupted bands of dull white, which again are often freckled 

 with a darker shade. The secondaries and tertials are very 

 similar, but with a greater number of bands. The wing- 

 quills are greyish-brown, mottled, especially on the inner 

 webs, with dirty white in the form of imperfect bars. The 

 tail, in like manner, is barred with greyish-brown, darker 

 above and paler beneath, the light interspaces being often 

 much freckled, and in these darker-coloured specimens the 

 general aspect of the whole upjjer surface of the bird, from a 

 little distance, is bluish. The under parts are of a more or 

 less pure white, with a few linear streaks on the throat along 

 the shaft of the feathers : these streaks increase both in 

 number and breadth till they have the form of heart-shaped 

 spots on the breast and sides. Some specimens have the 

 flanks and abdomen similarly marked, but in others the spots 

 again decrease in number and extent, and the under tail- 

 coverts seem to be never unmarked. The bill is of a bluish 

 horn-colour, darkest at the tip ; the cere, orbits and feet are 

 greenish-yellow, but some individuals seem never to attain 



