BROWN AND WHITE JER-FALCONS. 19 



Latham informs us that it was then an inhabitant of Scotland, probably a 

 winter visitant from its far northern home. 



Some half dozen specimens of the White Jer-Falcon are recorded as 

 having been taken in England, eight in Scotland and its islands, whilst in 

 Ireland but three specimens are recorded. A young bird, from which 

 YarrelFs excellent woodcut was taken, was killed in Pembrokeshire, and is 

 now preserved in the British Museum. A specimen was shot in Corn- 

 wall, and preserved in the collection of Mr. Rodd. Stevenson records one 

 killed in Norfolk, near Crorner; Mr. Hancock one which was caught near 

 York in 1837; and Mr. Roberts another specimen, captured in Robin 

 Hood's Bay, near Scarborough. Gray, in his ' Birds of the West of Scot- 

 land/ instances four examples as having been taken in the Hebrides, 

 another in Lanarkshire, in 1835, also an immature male in Perthshire, in 

 the spring of 1862. The bird described and figured in Pennant's 'British 

 Zoology ' was said to have been obtained near Aberdeen. On the 3rd of 

 March 1866, on the authority of Dr. Saxby (Zool. p. 288), a female was 

 shot on Balta, one of the Shetland Islands. Thompson records two from 

 Ireland, both in co. Donegal ; and Mr. Blake Knox records a third, killed 

 in the winter of 1862-63, and now preserved in the Museum at Dublin. 



Although we have no reason to suppose that the Iceland Jer-Falcon has 

 appeared less frequently in our islands, still, possibly from its far less con- 

 spicuous dress, it has certainly been less noticed and recorded. Mr. 

 Hancock has two birds in his collection one recorded in the ' Zoologist ' 

 (1845, p. 935), obtained at Bellingham on the North Tyne, and the other 

 at Norrnanby, in Yorkshire, in March 1837. In Mr. Borrer^s collection 

 is an adult bird, shot at Mayfield, in Sussex, in January 1845. In Scot- 

 land, as may naturally be supposed, the occurrences are far more frequent. 

 Gray records numerous examples, from Ross-shire, Sutherlandshire, and 

 Inverness-shire, between the years 1835-51 ; and in more recent years he 

 is satisfied that several examples have been obtained in the west. Four 

 specimens are recorded from the Hebrides; and Mr. Elwes mentions another 

 trapped in 1866 in Argyllshire. In the Shetlands we have Dr. Saxby's 

 authority for the bird having been a somewhat regular visitor ; but it is now 

 only occasionally seen. 



The only authentic instance of the occurrence of the Norwegian form 

 of the Jer-Falcon in this country is an immature example, which was 

 obtained at Orford, in Suffolk, on the 14th of October 1867. It was shot by 

 Mr. George Hunt, in the act of devouring a hen, and is now in the possession 

 of his brother, Mr. Edward J. Hunt, of Pimlico, by whom it was stuffed. It 

 is in an excellent state of preservation ; and the plumage is scarcely at all 

 abraded. Tlie head is somewhat darker than the back ; and the under- 

 parts, including the thighs, are longitudinally streaked. It is probably a 

 bird of the year which has not yet assumed the yellow legs. 



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