GREENLAND FALCON. 41 



for traversing a snowy waste without alarming the birds on 

 which it preys," and further, that when the Falcon "pounces 

 down upon a flock of Ptarmigan, the latter endeavour to 

 save themselves by diving instantly into the loose snow, and 

 making their way beneath it to a considerable distance." 



Midway between Asia and America, this white Falcon was 

 seen at sea a little north of Behring's Island by Mr. Ban- 

 nister. Crossing the Pacific, it is, according to Professor 

 Schlegel, known to the Japanese ; and it certainly occurs on 

 the continent of Asia, though whether its character in 

 Siberia is that of a native or visitor only, there is not at 

 present enough evidence to decide. A specimen obtained by 

 Pallas is preserved in the Museum at Berlin, and, though 

 regarded by some writers as an adult, is, according to the 

 views here adopted, a bird of the year ; and, if that be the 

 case, the question of its origin is left undecided. Dr. von 

 Middendorff says that the large Falcons observed by him, 

 even as high as lat. 75| N., were always in dark plumage ; 

 and the same would seem to have been the case with those 

 seen in South-eastern Siberia by Herr Radde, but the single 

 specimen from the Amoor River described by Herr von 

 Schrenck appears to have belonged to the Greenland form ; 

 and though his account leaves it questionable whether this 

 example was adult or immature, it would seem to have 

 been the latter. Falco candicans is said by Professor 

 Eversmann to occur, though not commonly, on the Ural 

 Mountains, but it may be open to doubt whether the bird he 

 means be really the same as the subject of this article. 

 Captain Salvin and Mr. Brodrick, in their ' Falconry in the 

 British Islands,' state that they "have been informed by 

 travellers, that some few large white Falcons, which must 

 be Greenland Falcons, are caught annually in their passage 

 over the Caspian Sea, and that they are highly prized by the 

 falconers of Syria and Persia." 



It has been already said that this Falcon occurs yearly in 

 Iceland, but it does not breed there ; and the only instance 

 on record of its having been seen in that island in summer 

 is that mentioned by Herr Preyer in the narrative of his 



VOL. I. G 



