106 THE GYR FALCON. 



black ; the irides reddish-brown. The wings reach to 1 J inches 

 from the end of the tail. Like the rest the female is the largest, 

 about 23 J inches long by 51 inches across the wings, against 21 

 and 47 inches in the male. It neither breeds nor is found in 

 Fife — rarely even in Scotland, except far north, and in the 

 Orkney and Shetland Isles, where it forms its nest, on cliffs, made 

 of sticks and roots, lined with wool or small twigs, seaweed or 

 moss. The nest is flat and about two feet in diameter. It lays 

 in the end of May from three to five eggs, larger and lighter 

 coloured than those of the peregrine — 2f inches long by If. 

 The colour is light brown, freckled all over with darker spots ; 

 sometimes nearly white, like itself, freckled at the largest 

 end. It is a native of northern countries, as if its plumage took 

 the hue of the snow. It is often found in Norway, Sweden, 

 Russia, and Iceland (from which it takes its name Isla?idicus), 

 in Greenland, Labrador, and the fur countries about Hudson's 

 Bay. In the days of falconry the best birds came from Iceland. 

 It was more difficult to reclaim than the peregrine, but once 

 trained was of more value than its darker brother. It was 

 trained to hunt such game as herons, wild geese, and the larger 

 quarries. Its flight resembles that of the peregrine, but more 

 elevated, majestic, and rapid. Its mode of attack is to outsoar 

 its prey, then swoop down like a thunderbolt upon it — the 

 term " noble " birds of prey being taken from the height at 

 which the long-winged falcons fly, in distinction to the lower 

 height of the short-winged hawks, which fly straight at their 

 game. In Labrador their chief prey is the Arctic puffin, which 

 breeds in burrows. They hover high in the air above the puffins, 

 almost motionless — like a kestrel over a mouse — watching the 

 proper moment to close their wings to descend like a stone — 

 almost perpendicular — down on their unsuspecting victim standing 

 at the mouth of its burrow, unaware of danger; like an un- 

 principled trustee who is chief creditor on a sequestrated estate. 

 The gyr falcon may have been in Shakespeare's mind when he 

 made King Henry praise the Duke of Gloster's falcon (when 

 Lord Protector of England), which gave rise to such ill-will 

 amongst his designing courtiers, Queen Margaret and Cardinal 

 Beaufort — 



Q. Mar. " Believe me, lords, for, flying at the brook, 



I saw not better sport these seven years' clay. 

 K. Hen. But what a point, my lord, your falcon made, 



And what a pitch she flew above the rest ! 



To see how God in all His creatures works ! 



Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high. 



