GYR-FALCON. 3D 
although it must have been preserved more than fifty 
years. This bird was given at that time to Mr. Tunstall 
by the then Lord Orford, of sporting notoriety, who had 
used it for many years in catching hares, rabbits, &c. It 
came from Iceland.* 
In reference to keeping this rare species from year to 
year, Sir John Sebright, in his Observations on Hawking, 
says—“ As it is difficult to procure Icelanders and Gyr- 
Falcons, these valuable birds are well worth mewing 
(putting to moult); but as Peregrine Falcons and Gos- 
hawks are easily obtained, much trouble and expense will 
be saved by getting young birds every year; and as these 
do not cast their wing and tail-feathers the first year, they 
will be in order to fly in the autumn, when the older birds 
will be in moult.” When kept for flying over their moult, 
they are then called Intermewed Hawks. 
The Peregrine Falcon being much more numerous as a 
species, and much more easily procured, was more particu- 
larly the object of the falconer’s care and tuition; and in 
the history of that bird, which follows next in the series, 
a few observations on the powers of flight and the mode 
of using the Falcons will be introduced. 
From the great strength and courage of the Gyr-Falcon, 
it was usual to fly them at birds of large size; such as 
Cranes, Storks, Herons, and Wild Geese. . 
The Gyr-Falcon is said to build annually on the rocky 
coasts of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. Two eggs in 
my own collection I believe to belong to this species: the 
length is two inches and three-eighths, the transverse mea- 
surement one inch seyen-eighths; both are mottled nearly 
all over with pale reddish brown on a dull white ground ; 
they are larger than those of the Peregrine Falcon, but 
* G. T. Fox, Esq., Synopsis of the Newcastle Museum, p. 52. 
VOL. I. D 
