THE GYR-FALCONS. 



199 



H. islandicus and H. holboelli, but is much darker than either 

 of these. It may be remarked that no one has hitherto been able 

 to detect any differences between the young of these races. 



Range in Great Britain. The first specimen of the Norwegian 

 Gyr- Falcon actually recorded in this country was identified by 

 myself. It was shot by one of the attendants in my depart- 

 ment at the British Museum, Mr. George Hunt, near Orford 

 in Suffolk, in October, 1867, and remains in the possession of 

 his brother, Mr. E. J. Hunt, all our efforts to purchase the 

 specimen for the British section of the National Collection 

 having proved futile. The bird in question was immature, 

 and therefore difficult to identify with certainty, but at the time 

 I examined the specimen I had just concluded my work on 

 the Accipitres, and had the Gyr-Falcons well in my mind, so 

 that I have no doubt that the specimen was correctly identi- 

 fied. It was shown by me to Mr. Seebohm, who also con- 

 sidered it to be a Norwegian Gyr-Falcon. A second specimen, 

 killed in Sussex, had been in Mr. Borrer's collection since 

 1845, but had always been looked upon as a young Iceland 

 Gyr-Falcon, till Mr. Gurney recognised it as an adult Norwegian 

 Gyr-Falcon. 



Range outside the British Islands. The exact range of the 

 present species is very difficult to determine, as it has been 

 divided by naturalists into several races, and it is impossible 

 to determine the value of the latter without having a large 

 number of specimens together for comparison, and at present 

 no Museum possesses a sufficiently complete series. It is an 

 inhabitant of Scandinavia, and, in my opinion, it will be found 

 to extend across Siberia, as well as the whole of the northern 

 part of the New World, or, as the American naturalists state, 

 the interior of Arctic America, from Hudson's Bay to Alaska. 



Habits. In their manner of life all the Gyr-Falcons seem to 

 be very much alike, and the Norwegian bird resembles the 

 Iceland Gyr-Falcon in its flight and general habits. It feeds 

 principally'on Ptarmigan, but it also captures Whimbrel and 

 water-fowl of various kinds. 



Nest. For our information as to the nesting of the Gyr- 

 Falcon we are almost entirely indebted to the researches of 

 the late John Wolley, who found many nests in Lapland. 



