290 



difficulty.' The same author subsequently recorded a second example in his 'list of Norfolk 

 birds,' published in Stacey's ' History of Norfolk,' which was said to have been shot at Gunton, 

 near Cromer, in January 1820, and came into the possession of the late Lord Suffield. From 

 that time I am not aware of any notice of its appearance on our coast until the summer of 

 1847, when, as Mr. Gurney informs me, a specimen, shot by a gamekeeper at Beeston, on the 

 estate of Mr. J. G. Hoare, was, horribile dictu, seen by that gentleman hanging up as a scarecrow, 

 and too much spoilt for preservation. On giving directions, however, that if any such bird should 

 occur again, it was to be sent to him in the flesh, Mr. Hoare received in 1848 the beautiful 

 Greenland Falcon from the same locality, already referred to in the present work. In the early 

 part of 1847 a large White Owl was more than once observed in the neighbourhood of Brooke; 

 and in 1849-50 no less than three specimens were met with in different parts of the county in 

 the short space of half a year, as stated by Mr. J. H. Gurney in the ' Zoologist.' Of these the 

 first was seen, but not shot, at Swannington during the autumn of 1849 ; the second, an 

 immature male, was shot by Mr. Cremer, at Beeston, on the 22nd of January, 1850, the same 

 village where this species had occurred just three years before ; and the third, a young male, 

 though somewhat more advanced in plumage, was killed at St. Faith's by Mr. Reynolds in 

 February of the same year. The two latter are preserved in Mr. Gurney's collection in Catton 

 Park. The late Mr. S. Miller, of Yarmouth, had also a specimen of this noble bird, which, if 

 not obtained in this district, was most probably British-killed." In Suffolk it has, Professor 

 Newton writes (I. c), been once obtained ; and Mr. Brooking Rowe records the occurrence of 

 one (which is now in the Albert Museum at Exeter) at Exmouth, which, he adds, looks as if it 

 had escaped from captivity. 



In Ireland it is stated by Thompson (B. of I. i. p. 95) to have been met with in 1812 and 

 1827; and he himself saw specimens killed in the winters of 1834-35 and 1837-38. The 

 specimens to which he especially refers are: — one obtained in Antrim in 1835; one seen at 

 Bruslee, county Antrim, in the same month ; one shot in the county of Mayo in March, others 

 having been obtained about the same time in other parts of Ireland ; one obtained in the county 

 of Longford in April; and one said to have been shot about 1835 near Omagh, in the county 

 of Tyrone. 



It is found commonly in some parts of Greenland, more numerous in the northern than in 

 the southern districts, and is not unfrequently seen in Iceland during the winter, though but 

 rarely seen in the summer. It has also been obtained several times on the Faeroes. In 

 Scandinavia it is found throughout the year; and the eggs have lately been obtained from 

 various parts of Norway and Sweden. My friend Mr. Robert Collett states that " not a few 

 breed on the fells above the tree-growth, both in the Dovre and the Langfjeldene down to 

 Christiania stift ; but it is most common in the far north, where, according to Sommerfelt, it is 

 occasionally very numerous in East Finmark. In the winter it migrates southwards, especially 

 when Lemmings are numerous, and then appears in the lowlands. Some seasons they have been 

 observed near Christiania throughout the winter. All those that have been shot in the lowlands 

 during the autumn and winter seem to have been young birds." Dr. Sundstrom sends me a long 

 account of the migrations of this species in Sweden, which he states are governed by those of the 

 Lemmings ; and he remarks that most of the specimens obtained near Upsala have been immature 



