FALCON. 



out for the collision of death. It sometimes happens ' 

 that the mountain crow comes in for the wounded 

 game ; but in order to do so it must proceed stealthily 

 along the ground, for woe betide it if it rises on the 

 wing, and meets the glance of the falcon. The raven 

 himself never scoops out another eye, if he rises to 

 tempt that one ; and it is by no means improbable 

 that, in the early season, in those cold northern coun- 

 tries, when the lambs are young and the flocks weak, 

 and the crows and ravens prowl about blinding and 

 torturing, the jerfalcon may be of considerable service 

 to the shepherd." 



The jeri'alcon is large, strong, exceedingly compact, 

 and very firm in its plumage. The length of the 

 male bird is about twenty-two iches, and the stretch 

 of its wings about four feet. The female is two or 

 three inches longer, and proportionally greater in the 

 extent of the wings. The ground colour of the whole 

 plumage is white, with narrow bands of brown on the 

 upper parts and the tail, and tear-shaped spots of the 

 same colour upon the under part of the body, inter- 

 spersed with lines and arrow- point spots still of the 

 same colour. The tail, which consists of twelve 

 rounded feathers, is rather long, of a dark-greyish 

 colour, with black shafts to the feathers, and marked 

 across with dusky bars, generally about twelve in num- 

 ber. The colours on the upper part of the male bird 

 are, at all ages, darker than those of the female ; and 

 the very old females become almost white. It is 

 probable also that, as is the case with the ptarmigan, 

 which forms part of the jerfalcon's winter food, the 

 white may become more pure during the winter sea- 

 son. The beak is of a bluish colour, but the tip is 

 black, and so are the claws. The feet, the cere, and 

 the naked space round the eyes are bluish yellow. In 

 the young bird they incline more to blue, and the 

 upper part is also much more dusky, so that, as has 

 oeen the case with many other falcons, the old and 

 the young have been sometimes described as differ- 

 ent species. The tarsi, which are very short, and 

 have reticulated scales, are feathered for the upper 

 part of their length. The feet and claws are not re- 

 markably large ; but the action of the joints is exceed- 

 ingly powerful and the articulation beautiful. 



The extreme north of Europe, and also of some 

 parts of Asia, is the native locality of the jerfalcon. 

 On the continent it is not met with to the southward of 

 the Baltic, and it is rare in the southern parts of Swe- 

 den. Indeed, as it is completely a bird of the wilds, 

 it seldom makes its appearance over cultivated lands 

 in any country. It is not, however, a woodland bird, 

 but a tenant of the wild rocks ; and though it is plenti- 

 ful in Norway, Iceland, in which there are no woods, 

 is understood to be its head quarters, and the country 

 where it attains the largest size, and has the great- 

 est power, if indeed there be not in Iceland a spe- 

 cies, or variety, of greater size and strength, and 

 whiter in the colour than the one which is met with 

 in continental Europe. 



The jerfalcon certainly does combine some of the 

 habits of the golden eagle with those of the falcons 

 properly so called ; and the structure agrees with 

 this habit. Ascent and descent, the former to gain 

 power, and the latter to put that power in execution 

 are the chief motions of the eagle ; and for this pur- 

 pose the eagle has great strength and capacity o 

 action in the tail ; so that it works for ascent or 



descent, something in the same manner as the wings 

 work for progressive motion. The tail of the jer- 



463 



falcon is in this respect very similar to that of the 

 eagle ; it is capable of being spread very wide, and 

 of striking either upwards or downwards against the 

 air, with very considerable force. At the same time, 



he very different structure of the wings gives this fal- 

 con a far greater command of the air than the eagle. 

 The eagle can do execution only when her prey is on 



he ground ; and she cannot rise to windward in the 

 same style as the falcons. The jerfalcon on the other 



land can strike her prey either in the air or upon the 

 ground, and with the same effect in both cases. It is 

 jrobable that the use of these different powers pre- 

 dominates at different seasons. In summer the places 

 which the jerfalcon inhabits are full of birds, snipes, 

 apwings, and other birds of rapid flight, besides the 

 native gallinaceous birds of the northern wilds. Some 

 olaces too, even pretty far north, have their rocky 

 shores thronged with rock doves (Columba livla) ; and 

 during the summer season these are generally stirring. 

 At this season, therefore, it is probable that the jer- 

 "alcon lives chiefly upon birds, and kills her prey in 

 the air ; but that when winter comes she has to take 

 more to the habit of the eagle. At that season there 

 are comparatively few birds to be seen on the wing ; 

 though there are a good many ground birds, as well 

 as alpine hares, and other small mammalia ; and, 

 though we cannot be certain of the fact, it is highly 

 probable that during this season the jerfalcon preys 

 upon these. 



In farther proof of this, it may be mentioned, that 

 it is in summer and autumn, rather than after the 

 winter has set in, that the jerfalcon is discursive, and 

 found without her arctic territory ; and this fact shows 

 that she must be supported during the winter by food 

 which she finds at home ; and that which we have 

 mentioned ia the principal part of what her dominions 

 then furnish. In this again there is some resemblance 

 to the golden eagle. The upland places which the 

 golden eagle frequents, stand to the low countries 

 around them in pretty nearly the same relation as the 

 native haunts of the jerfalcon stands to the temperate 

 countries farther to the south. And it is matter of com- 

 mon observation to those who reside near the abodes 

 of eagles, that they seldom or never find those birds 

 beating over the lower valleys in the winter. Indeed, 

 they are rarely seen at that season ; but as we know 

 that eagles stand many winters, they must have some 

 food, notwithstanding their power of abstinence ; and 

 this food they must obtain in the mountains. The 

 jerfalcon is, in all probability, as long lived a bird as 

 the eagle ; and though she is probably as capable of 

 enduring hunger as the eagle, we can scarcely suppose 

 that she can be without food for the whole length of 

 a Lapland or an Iceland winter, which is any thing 

 but a short one, and consequently she also must find 

 what food she acquires in the wilds during this season. 

 Those circumstance?, which we believe have seldom 

 if ever been adverted to, are worthy of attention, as 

 descriptive of the leading* habits of perhaps the two 

 most interesting birds in the whole of the feathered 

 catalogue. They are both tempered to the utmost 

 violence of the storm ; and they remain most con- 

 stantly in the home of that storm during the season 

 of its greatest violence. This is very different from 

 the birds of warmer countries ; and from the summer 

 visitants of the colder ones ; but it is common to the 

 gallinidse of the northern regions and the mountain 

 tops, as well as to the powerful birds of prey which 

 winter there. The great owls of the north should 



