THE WHITE GYRFALOON, 281 



93. Falco islandus Brunnich. 



WHITE GYRFALCON. 



Falco islandus Brunnich, Ornithologia Borealis, 1764, 2. 



(B 11, C 341a, R 413, C 501, U 353.) 



Geographical range : Circumpolar regions, including Greenland, A.rctic Amer- 

 ica, Commander Islands, etc. 



With our present limited knowledge of the White Gyrfalcon but little 

 can positively be stated about its breeding range, excepting that during the 

 season of reproduction it inhabits the circumpolar regions. It breeds along 

 the coast of northern Greenland, the ice-bound and inhospitable shores of 

 eastern North America bordering on Baffin Bay and Smith Sound, and prob- 

 ably also along the numerous islands of the Arctic Sea, and the coast of 

 northern Labrador and Hudson Strait. According to Dr. Stejneger, it also 

 breeds on Bering Island, one of the Commander group of northeastern Asia. 

 He says: "A pair had their nest in a steep and inaccessible rock in the 

 so-called 'Nakovalnaga,' a couple of miles from the main village." A male 

 was shot by him on August 27, 1882, and a female on May 2, 1883.* 



This species is the lightest colored of the Gryrfalcons. Gen. A. W. Greely, 

 Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army, says: "The Greenland Falcon was probably 

 seen by the Polaris Expedition about May 22, 1872. Mr. Hart noticed these 

 birds nesting in cliffs near Cape Hayes, latitude 79° 42' N., and a Falcon was 

 seen near Cape Frazer, latitude 79° 44' N., August 24, 1876. The latest 

 specimen in Smith Sound was recorded by Hayes during his boat journey on 

 Northumberland Island, near Cape Alexander, September 10, 1854. We saw 

 an example August 4, 1881, just north of Carl Ritter Bay, and another near 

 Fort Conger on July 30, 1882, the attention of Sergeants Jewell and Ralston 

 being called to the latter through the great alarm shown by the Bufifoii's 

 Skuas in their vicinity. Three Falcons were seen August 13, 1882, in the 

 valley at the head of St. Patrick Bay, about latitude 81° 55' N., attracted by 

 offal. They were observed in the same locality August 15, and a pair of them 

 flew around Fort Conger two days later." - 



Nelson found the White Gyrfalcon rare in Alaska and only secured a 

 single specimen of this bird, an Eskimo kin, taken at Cape Darby, on the 

 Alaskan shore, near Bering Strait. The natives also told him that these 

 White Hawks sometimes bred on the mountains of the Kaviak Peninsula, but 

 he had no means of personally verifying this statement, although his solitary 

 specimen came from there. 



According to Kumlien, it is very rare on the Cumberland Gulf side of 

 Davis Strait, and much more numerous on the Greenland shore. He says 

 that it is apparently much slower on the wing than the common Duck Hawk, 



1 Bulletin 29, U. S. National MuBeum, 1885, p. 205. 



■^International Polar Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay, Grinnell Laud, 1888, Vol. 11, p. 26. 



