ICELAND 79 



terns to chase and must prey upon something to 

 obtain a living. 



From our camping-ground I daily witnessed the 

 attacks of the gallant Iceland Falcons on the ducks. 

 Three or four old birds, with their young in attend- 

 ance, evidently undergoing a preliminary training, 

 visited the stream at least once a day, and twice I 

 actually saw them make a kill. Like the Peregrine, 

 they would many times make practice stoops at 

 passing ducks, and then veer off as if they had 

 dashed downwards for a bit of fun. In flight the 

 Iceland Falcons are very bold and daring. They 

 passed by our tent twice within a few yards, and 

 I could easily have killed one had I wished to do 

 so, but it was much more enjoyable to see their 

 graceful aerial movements. In the evening, after 

 having fed, a pair were generally to be seen soaring 

 high in the clouds and behaving as all Eagles and 

 Buzzards do often stooping and playing with one 

 another in jest. 



But by far the finest ornithological sight we wit- 

 nessed was at breakfast time one morning, when 

 a magnificent White-tailed Eagle came, slowly 

 flapping along from the direction of the lake and 

 following the line of the stream. The commotion 

 amongst the ducks was intense. Every mother 

 that as yet had no children and all the unattached 

 drakes came scurrying along before the great 

 scavenging coward of the air. A stream of some 

 1500 or 2000 ducks passed our camp in one confused 

 mass, all flying low, and most of them just above 

 the water, in evident terror. It was a royal pro- 

 cession indeed. Doubtless the eagle would catch 

 a helpless flapper or two later in the season, but 



