ROUGH-LEGGED B UZZARD—SNO IV- B UN TEX t , , 5 



within the Arctic Circle, but when the animals on which they prey are driven 

 southward by the winter, these falcons follow them. Above the tree-line the egga 

 of these birds are laid on rocks ; within it the nests are built on trees, the old 

 nests of other birds being sometimes occupied and relined with grass and moss. 

 The eggs, from three to four in number, which are laid in May or June, vary 

 much in their markings, but have always a white ground-colour. This is more or 

 less clouded — sometimes entirely — with reddish brown. The young falcons are 

 plentifully provided for by their parents, mainly with birds caught while on the 

 wing. In the Middle Ages gerfalcons were highly valued for hawking purposes, 

 and are still so used by the tribes of the northern steppes. From 19 to 22 inches 

 is the usual length of these birds, which vary greatly in colour, some being nearly 

 white, while others are of all intermediate shades between this and dark grey. 

 Light and dark birds have been found in the same nest, but none quite white, 

 as the whiteness seems to come only with old age. The species known as Falco 

 candicans, the Greenland falcon, has white plumage, with or without brown 

 markings, the tail being white, the flanks without bars, and the beak yellow. 

 The other two northern species have blue beaks and barred flanks, F. islandicus 

 having a white head with narrow black streaks, while in F. gyrfalco, the grey 

 gerfalcon, the crown is grey mottled with black. The Iceland falcon appears 

 peculiar to the island from which it takes its name. The Greenland falcon nests 

 on Bering Island and throughout Arctic America, while the grey species builds 

 in the north from Norway to Hudson Bay, and is the one most abundant in Arctic 

 Siberia. 

 Rough-Legged The rough-legged buzzards (Archibuteo) differ from the true 



Buzzard. buzzards by the completely feathered legs, and from the eagles — 

 which they resemble in having the tarsus reticulated behind — by the weaker and 

 shorter beak, and by the nostrils being concealed by an overhanging shelf. The 

 species common in Arctic Siberia, A. lagopus, is an inhabitant of the tundra, but 

 breeds in Russia as far south as 56° N. latitude. When driven south by the 

 inclemency of the winter in October and November, it is seen in the British Isles, 

 central Europe, and central Asia. In March it returns north to nest on the dwarf 

 birches, or the beds of reindeer-moss, or even on the bare ground. The food of 

 these birds is generally similar to that of the true buzzards, but in Siberia 

 principally consists of lemmings. The rough-footed buzzard carries its wings 

 somewhat lower than usual, and its flight is slow and straight. The toes and cere 

 are yellow, the head and neck white ; and there is much white in the plumage, of 

 which the colour is mainly brown above ; the tail is, however, white marked with 

 black bars, which are most numerous in old birds. The female has less white in 

 her plumage than the male, and is, as is usual among birds-of-prey, rather larger, 

 being 26 inches in length, while the male measures only 22£ inches. 



Passing on to a very different group of birds, we find the snow- 

 bunting (Plectrophanes nivalis) living beyond the boundaries of 

 tree -growth all round the North Pole, but more abundant in mountainous 

 districts than on the tundra. In Scandinavia this strikingly coloured bunting is 

 found only on the highest peaks of the Dovrefjeld, and in northern Lapland close 

 to the boundary of perpetual snow. It is also met with in Spitzbergen, Novaia 



