THE FALCONS 



[ORDER: Accipitres. SUBORDER: Falcones. FAMILY: Falconidce] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. R. JOTJRDALtf. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



GREENLAND FALCON [Fdlco rusticolus cdndicans Gmelin. White 

 hawk ; Iceland hawk (Shetlands). French, gerfaut blanc ; German, gron- 

 Idndischer Jagdfalk}. 



1. Description. The Greenland falcon may at once be recognised by its 

 white plumage and yellow beak ; the latter, and the absence of bars on the flanks, 

 distinguish the species at any age. The sexes are alike. (PI. 150.) Length 23 in. 

 [584'0 mm.]. The adult male (" tiercel ") is pure white relieved by a few small 

 black spots, largest on the hinder scapulars, and black tips to the primaries. The 

 cere, the space surrounding the eye, and the legs and toes are yellow, the iris 

 dark brown. In the female the spots are generally rather large and more numerous. 

 In the very young the head is white striated with black, the mantle black, but 

 with each feather broadly margined with white ; the tail is crossed by imperfect 

 bars of dark brown, while the breast is marked by large bean-shaped spots of dark 

 brown. As age advances the black and brown areas diminish, the under parts 

 becoming white and the back marked by large butterfly-shaped black spots, 

 which gradually diminish in size. Young in down white, [w. P. P.] 



2. Distribution. In the breeding season this race is confined to Green- 

 land, and according to Packard, the Labrador Coast, as well as Hudson's Strait 

 and Baffin Land. It probably also breeds in the Arctic regions of N. America, 

 west to the Commander Isles. In Iceland, North Scandinavia and Russia, the 

 Urals and parts of North Asia, it is represented by allied forms, two of which 

 have occurred in the British Isles. The Greenland falcon only occurs within our 



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