FALCONID#. 341 
THE GREENLAND FALCON. 
FAtco cANpicans, J. F. Gmelin. 
Considerable difference of opinion has long existed respecting the 
specific distinctness of some of the large Northern Falcons, for 
which several systematists have adopted the genus Hrerofalco ; and 
the late Mr. John Hancock was the first to show that in the Green- 
land Falcon the prevailing ground-colour is white at all ages, whereby 
it may always be distinguished from the Iceland Falcon, or any 
other member of the group which occurs in Europe. Being a 
summer-inhabitant of Arctic regions, where food is almost unobtain- 
able in winter, this species is forced to migrate, and consequently 
examples have been taken from time to time in the British Islands. 
These have naturally occurred with greater frequency in Scotland and 
the north of England than in the south, though an immature bird, 
the subject of the present figure and now in the British Museum, 
was shot in Pembrokeshire, and examples have been obtained in 
