Falcon. RAPTORES. FALCO. 37 



" nobler flights'" of game, such as cranes, ' herons, wild 

 geese, &c. 



According to " The Gentleman's Recreation" (an old but 

 interesting treatise on hunting, hawking, and other field 

 sports), this kind was difficult to reclaim ; but, when once 

 brought to obey the voice of the falconer, was of much 

 greater value than any of the others. 



The Jer-Falcon is of very rare occurrence in England ; 

 and I have never been able to examine a recent specimen on 

 the south of the river Tweed. 



It is known in the northern parts of Scotland, particularly 

 in the Orkney and Shetland Isles, and is enumerated by Mr 

 Low in his Fauna Oread., but he appears to consider it as a 

 visitant, not as a fixed inhabitant of those parts. 



In Europe, Iceland, Greenland, and other northern coun- 

 tries, are the native regions of this species ; and from the first 

 of which it has obtained its trivial name. It was from this 

 island, also, that the Royal falconries of Denmark and other 

 kingdoms were suppKed with their choicest casts of hawks. 

 According to Dr Richardson*, the Jer-Falcon is a constant 

 resident in the Hudson's Bay territories, where it is known 

 by the name of the " Speckled Partridge Hawk," or by that 

 of the " Winterer." He adds, it is not enumerated by Wil- 

 son or Bonaparte amongst the birds of the United States, 

 and I am unable to give the exact southern limits of its 

 range, though I have ascertained that it is occasionally found 

 as far south as latitude 52°. It is found northward to the 

 coast of the Arctic Sea ; and probably in the most northern 

 Georgian Islands." Its geographical distribution, therefore, 

 seems limited to latitudes not lower than 50°. 



It breeds in the highest and most inaccessible rocks ; but 

 the number and colour of the eggs remain as yet undescribed- 

 During the period of incubation, and while rearing its young, 

 it becomes very daring ; as we learn from the following state- 



* See Fauna Boreali Amer. vol. ii. page 27. 



