l8o FALCONIFORMES 



CHAP, 



Falcon of Mexico and the western United States, has the head 

 brown. G. hypoleuca, of Australia, is grey and black, with barred 

 tail, and dusky shaft-streaks on the whitish lower parts ; G. 

 suhnigra of the same country being almost plain blackish-brown. 



Much controversy has arisen concerning the noble Arctic 

 Falcons {Hicrofalco), especially those occupying Siberia and 

 Northern America; it seems, however, most probable that three grey 

 forms inhabit the latter and two the former region. In H. candi- 

 cans, the Greenland Falcon, the prevailing colour is white at all 

 ages, transversely marked above and spotted below with blackish ; 

 it occurs in North Greenland, Spitsbergen, Arctic Siberia and 

 America, the Commander Islands, and Amur-land. H. gyrfalco, 

 the Gyr- or Jer-Falcon ^ of Arctic America, Greenland, Scandinavia, 

 Northern Eussia, and possibly North Asia, is like a large Pere- 

 grine Falcon, but is greyer above and whiter below ; H. islandus, 

 the Iceland Falcon, of South Greenland, Iceland, North Siberia, 

 and Arctic America is paler, having the whitish head streaked 

 with dusky. H. lahradorus, of Labrador, is dark throughout. All 

 these species move southwards towards winter, the first three 

 visiting Britain and the Greenland Falcon even Southern France. 

 They are still valued in Falconry ; but, though more powerful, 

 they lack the spirit and dash of the Peregrine Falcon. The 

 food consists of lemmings, grouse, sea-fowl, and the like ; the nest 

 of sticks, lined with softer materials, is placed on rocks or trees, 

 and contains three or four whitish eggs mottled or completely 

 covered with yellowish or cinnamon markings. 



Fam. V. Pandionidae. This group is especially remarkable 

 for the reversible outer toe recalling that of the O.wls, the want 

 of an aftershaft, and the long closely-feathered tibiae. The strong 

 short beak is arched and decidedly hooked ; the powerful feet are 

 roughly scaled ; the toes nearly equal, with no connecting mem- 

 branes, but with spicules beneath ; the claws sharp, curved, and 

 rounded ; the wings long ; the tail comparatively short. The other 

 structural details are as in the Falconidae. The downy young are 

 dusky, varied with rufous ; the lower breast, the abdomen, a central 

 stripe down the back, and several on the head, being white. 



Pandion halia'etus, the Osprey or Fish-Hawk, nearly cosmo- 



^ Professor Newton and other writers seena to consider that the true Gyr- Falcon 

 only inhabits Scandinavia and If. caitdicans Greenland and Arctic America ; but this 

 does not j)reclude occurrences elsewhere. Cf. however, Ibis, 1889, pp. 143-144. 



