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adult Iceland Falcon ; and Mr. Couch informed me he had found it to be a male by dissection. 

 I was also informed that it had been seen about by the keeper for some little time in company 

 with another similar bird. The small island of Herm, about three miles from Guernsey, is 

 rented by a gentleman who occupies it mostly for the purpose of shooting and game-preserving, 

 and amongst other things rears a good many Pheasants ; these the two Falcons seem to have 

 found very fine eating, as the keeper saw them kill several Pheasants ; at length, getting savage 

 at seeing hen Pheasants killed just at the beginning of the breeding-season, he watched for a 

 shot, and at length, as the birds had become rather less wary than they were at first, got a shot 

 at and obtained this bird." Referring to the occurrence of this Falcon in Scotland, Mr. Robert 

 Gray states (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 22): — "Between 1835 and 1851 several specimens of this 

 Falcon were shot in Ross-shire, Sutherlandshire, and Inverness-shire ; and within the last four 

 years I have satisfied myself that four or five have been shot in the west of Scotland. One was 

 killed by Captain M'Rae on the island of Vallay, Outer Hebrides, in September 1865. It 

 haunted the farmyard for some time, and was quite fearless in its attacks among the poultry, 

 killing a great many chickens before it met its fate. This bird is now in the collection of 

 Dr. Dewar, of Glasgow. Another, a fine male, had been shot in October of the previous year in 

 North Uist by Allan M'Lean, gamekeeper there ; and a third Hebridean specimen was found 

 washed ashore dead on the west side of the island about the same time, but was not discovered 

 until it had been disfigured by Hooded Crows. It has likewise occurred on the inner islands, as 

 I have been informed by Mr. Elwes, who writes that ' one which was shot in Islay is now in the 

 museum at Islay House.' In September 1866 another fine Iceland Falcon was caught in a pole- 

 trap at Glendaruel, Argyleshire ; but unfortunately this bird was lost, the trap not having been 

 looked at for some days after it was sprung. The species, however, was identified beyond a 

 doubt." 



Dr. Saxby also writes (B. of Shetl. p. 15) as follows: — " Until within the last fifteen years, 

 the Iceland Falcon used to visit these islands, Unst especially, with some regularity, between 

 autumn and spring, usually after a snow-storm accompanied by a heavy gale ; now, however, two 

 or three years may pass without the appearance of a single individual being recorded. I saw the 

 last in February 1871, when two, possibly a pair, visited Balta Sound, and remained there several 

 days, keeping mostly near the beach, and feeding upon the Snipes and Starlings which had been 

 driven from inland by the frost. I kept them under careful and almost constant observation, and 

 could distinguish but little difference between their habits and those of the Greenland Falcon, 

 except that these, although occasionally coming near the pigeon-boxes and poultry-yards, seemed 

 more inclined to avoid the haunts of man. Although the two birds were seldom more than half 

 a mile or a mile apart, each hunted independently for itself. Once, when the larger of the two 

 struck a Rock-Dove into the water, the other came up hurriedly, but whether with a selfish 

 motive or with a desire to render assistance is uncertain. Both, however, hovered about the 

 victim for nearly a quarter of an hour, but without attempting to recover it. In 1858 I was 

 shown the moth-eaten and otherwise dilapidated skin of a male which had been killed in Unst 

 about a year previously, and in the autumn of the same year was barely able to recognize the 

 remains of one among the drift upon the sands at Norwick. I have only had one other in my 



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