

the Lynher in February 1834 was mentioned by Dr. Edward Moore), is believed by Mr. Rodd 

 to be of this form, as is probably one obtained at the Lizard, and also recorded by him. Hunt, 

 in his ' British Ornithology,' has figured an example taken alive on Bungay Common, in Suffolk, 

 some sixty years since ; but, from its tameness, it had possibly escaped from a falconer. In 

 Norfolk one was killed, according to Mr. Stevenson, in February 1S48, near Cromer; and other 

 large white Falcons have been seen in that county as well as in Suffolk. In Yorkshire there is 

 Mr. Hancock's excellent authority for the occurrence of one, which was wounded near York in 

 February 1837, and kept alive for some time by Mr. Allis; and Mr. Roberts has recorded (Zool. 

 p. 4558) one which was killed in Robin Hood's Bay in November 1854. A young male killed 

 in Islay, in February 1838, has come under Mr. Hancock's inspection; but at least four are 

 mentioned by Mr. Robert Gray in his work as having been killed of late years in the Hebrides ; 

 while two more have, on the same authority, occurred in other parts of Scotland — one in Lanark- 

 shire in 1835, and the other, an immature male, now in Mr. Newcome's collection, in Perthshire 

 in the spring of 18G2. The example described and figured in Pennant's 'British Zoology,' was 

 said to have been shot near Aberdeen ; and the engraving shows it to have been a young bird. 

 Messrs. Salvin and Brodrick, in their work before cited, also state that on two occasions, about 

 1840, a large white Falcon was seen in Ross-shire, and that in 1850 Messrs. St. John and 

 Hancock saw a Greenland Falcon near Elgin. On the 3rd March 1800, according to Dr. Saxby 

 (Zool. s. s. p. 288), a female was shot on Balta, one of the Shetlands ; and this example is now in 

 the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. In Ireland, Thompson mentions one killed more than 

 thirty years since in Donegal, and subsequently a second, shot at Drumboe Castle, in the same 

 county. Mr. Blake-Knox has recorded a third Irish specimen, which is in the Museum of the 

 Dublin Natural-History Society, and appears to have been killed in the winter of 1862-03." 



In Greenland the present species is the predominant form in the northern districts, the 

 Iceland Falcon being, if any thing, more numerous in the southern portions of that country. It 

 visits Iceland in some numbers in the winter season ; but, so far as can be ascertained, it does not 

 breed there, being, as a rule, absent in the summer season, though Herr Preyer mentions one 

 instance of its occurrence in Iceland at that season. 



In Scandinavia it does not appear to have occurred, and is replaced by Falco gyrfalco ; but 

 the present species is certainly found in Spitzbergen ; for Mr. A. Benzon informs me that he 

 possesses an undoubted example received from there. It has been so frequently confused with 

 its allies, Falco gyrfalco and Falco islandus, that it is impossible to state, with any degree of 

 certainty, if it has ever been obtained on the continent of Europe ; but it appears somewhat 

 doubtful. It probably may be found on Novaya Zemlya, and possibly in the northern portions 

 of Russia, but only as a rare straggler. It certainly occurs in Northern Siberia ; for the specimen 

 obtained by Dr. Maack at Nertschinsk, on the Amoor, in March 1855, and referred to by Von 

 Schrenck, certainly belongs to the present species, as is clearly shown by the description given 

 by Dr. von Schrenck, which I translate as follows : — " The general colour is white, the moustache 

 is scarcely defined ; on the head are fine dark shaft-stripes, and on the neck and breast similar 

 but rather larger stripes. The underparts are white, marked with a few greyish brown shaft- 

 stripes, and the flanks are marked with similar lancet-shaped spots ; back white." 



According to Professor Schlegel the present species is known to the Japanese; and in 



