FALCONS. 311 



America it almost invariably nests on ledges of rocks in precipitous places, rarely 

 making much of a nest, and sometimes laying its handsome eggs on the bare rock, or 

 in a slight hollow scratched in the debris of the ledge. These are three or four in 

 number, usually so heavily blotched with chocolate and red-brown as to entirely 

 obscure the ground color, which, when visible, is creamy white. 



Although ordinarily nesting as above, it has been known exceptionally to breed in 

 trees, Mr. N. S. Goss having given an account of his observations on several pairs 

 which he found nesting in the timber along the banks of the Neosho River in Kansas. 

 In one case, three eggs were found in a large sycamore, about fifty feet from the 

 ground, " laid on the fine, soft, rotten wood in a trough-like cavity formed by the 

 breaking off of a hollow limb near the body of the tree." Another pair was found 

 nesting in a knot-hole in a cottonwood, and still another in a hollow limb of a giant 

 sycamore. 



The general colors of the adult bird are dark bluish ash above, almost black on 

 the head, lighter on the tail. Below, creamy white, barred, except on chin and 

 thi'oat, with black, while a large black patch extends from the bill backward beneath 

 the eye, and downward under the bill. The young are more brownish above, and are 

 streaked longitudinally instead of barred below, said to be a characteristic of all the 

 larger and typical falcons before the first real moult. Another point which some 

 systematists make much of, and which was recognized centuries ago by falconers, is 

 the fact that in all true falcons, the iris is brown, and usually quite dark. This 

 is probably true of all members of the genus Falco, including all the sub-genera 

 except Tinnunculus, in which group some species have yellow irides. But these 

 yellow-eyed birds differ much from their relatives, and seem to have lost most of the 

 spirit of the true falcons. 



The largest and finest of all the falcons are the gyrfalcons, confined to the colder 

 portions of the northern hemisphere. Just how many species there are is still 

 unsettled ; some naturalists recognize four distinct but nearly related species ; others 

 believe in only a single circumpolar species, in which they consider it difficult if not 

 impossible to distinguish geographical races. The four forms, be they species or 

 races, are certainly very much alike in all but color of plumage, and this is extremely 

 variable even in individuals belonging to the same ' race.' 



These forms are thus treated by Professor Newton : " Next to the typical Falcons 

 comes a group known as the 'great northern' falcons (Hlerofalco). Of these the 

 most remarkable is the gyrfalcon, F. gyrfalco, whose home is in the Scandinavian 

 mountains, though the young are yearly visitants to the plains of Holland and Ger- 

 many. In plumage it very much resembles F. peregrinus, but its flanks have generally 

 a bluer tinge, and its superiority in size is at once manifest. Nearly allied to it is the 

 Icelander, F. islandus, which externally differs in its paler coloring, and in almost 

 entirely wanting the black mandibular patch. Its proportions, however, differ a good 

 deal, its body being elongated. Its country is shown by its name, but it also inhabits 

 South Greenland, and not unfrequently makes its way to the British Islands. Very 

 close to this comes the Greenland falcon, F. candicans, a native of North Greenland, 

 and perhaps of other countries within the Arctic circle. Like the last, the Greenland 

 falcon from time to time occurs in the United Kingdom, but it is always to be distin- 

 guished by wearing a plumage in which at every age the prevailing color is pure white. 

 In northeastern America these birds are replaced by a kindred form, F. labradorus, 

 first detected by Audubon, and lately recognized by Mr. Dresser. It is at once dis- 



