PANDION HALI^ETUS, Linn. 



(Osprey.) 



" Mr. SwAYSLAND says he saw an Osprey off Brighton, Sept. 23, 1862. It 

 was pursued by many Starhngs and a Rook, and went along slowly." The 

 Rev. R. N. Dennis, rector of South Blatchington, writes the same day, 

 " The Osprey was shot by a coast-guardsman as it was flying over the 

 Castle hill, Newhaven ; he brought it over here directly. It seemed very 

 gentle and inoffensive, and not inclined to use its formidable claws. It had 

 been seen about the Newhaven and Cuckmere rivers for three days ; and a 

 coast-guardsman watched it while it captured a fish in the mill-pond. The 

 stomach contained a few pieces of shingle, two or three bones of a small fish, 

 and a seed-capsule of a common seaweed, doubtless swallowed accidentally. 

 It was in very good condition, and measured 5 feet 4i inches from tip to 

 tip of the wings." 



FALCO CANDICANS, J. F. Gmelin. 

 (Greenland Falcon.) 



Falco candicans, J. F. Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 275 (1780). 



Professor Newton has given three forms of Gyrfalco (vide Yarrell's Brit. 

 Birds, 4th ed., revised by Alfred Newton, M.A., F.R.S.). Mr. R. B. Sharpe, 

 in the P. Z. S. 1873, p. 414, attempts to establish a fourth. To which of them 

 the following birds, mentioned by Lord Lindsay, belong, cannot, I think, be 

 safely determined. In former days two of these noble Falcons were deemed 

 a fitting present for a king. It is stated, in the ' Lives of the Lindsays,' by 

 Lord Lindsay, vol. i. p. 181, edition 1858, that Earl John, son of the 

 Lindsay, Duke of Montrose, was fond of horses, dogs, and falcons, &c. 

 Payments occur in the treasurer's accounts "To the Earl of Crawford's 

 falconer " — " to the Earl of Crawford's man that brought twa gere-falcons 

 to the king " — " bridle-silver of two horses, giffin " by the Earl " to the king." 



