24 



America it inhabits the extreme northern districts, where it appears to be met with right across 

 the continent ; and Mr. Kidgway says that it is of irregular occurrence in winter throughout the 

 circumpolar regions. Mr. Bannister writes (Trans. Chic. Acad. Sci. i. p. 271) as follows: — "I 

 learned from the residents of St. Michael's that a species supposed to be this one is not unfre- 

 quent, though it did not come under my own observation. On the voyage home, however, on 

 the 21st of October, 1866, when off the coast of Kamtschatka, a little north of Behring's Island, 

 one of these birds alighted in the rigging." It is stated to be met with not unfrequently in Canada 

 during the winter ; and my brother informs me that he has seen several examples which were 

 shot near Ottawa. According to Mr. Reeks it is also a tolerably regular autumn visitant to 

 Newfoundland ; and, judging from the specimens I have seen sent from there, it cannot be rare 

 in Labrador. 



I have unfortunately been unable to procure any details respecting the nidification of the 

 present species ; but doubtless it does not differ much from its allies, Falco islandus and Falco 

 rjyrfalco, in its mode of nidification. It breeds in the more northern portions of Greenland and 

 of North America. From the former country I have received through Herr Justitsraad Erichsen 

 and Mr. A. Benzon several eggs of the present species, which closely resemble those of Falco 

 gyrfalco, but seem, as a rule, to have a slightly rougher texture of shell than the eggs of that 

 species. The Greenland Falcon used formerly to be most highly prized for falconry ; and very 

 large prices were paid for birds of the present species obtained in Iceland. Professor Newton 

 gives, in the new edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' some most interesting details on this head, 

 chiefly culled from Professor Schlegel's ' Traite de Fauconnerie,' which, however, I need scarcely 

 recapitulate here. 



The specimens figured are an old female in the whitest stage of plumage, on another Plate 

 an adult bird in the darker and more strongly marked stage of plumage in the foreground to the 

 right, and in the background to the left a young bird of the lightest form, showing the longi- 

 tudinal markings on the back. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens: — 



F Mus. H. F. Dresser. 



a, b, $ ad., c, d, 2juv., e, f, tfjuv. Greenland. g, $ ad. Iceland (A. Benzon). h, 2 ad., i, k, juv. Labrador 

 : (Moschler) . 



F Mus. Frit. Beg. 



a, b. Greenland (Gould), c, d, e,f. Lichtenfels, S. Greenland (Dr. O. Finsch). g, h, i. Labrador (Gould), 

 k. N. America (Hudson's- Bay Co.). 1. N. America (Sir A. Bach). 



