346 GYR-FALCON. 
during severe weather, when in the act, of devouring a pigeon on 
the top of a wheat-stack. Mr. Ellman, its original owner, was 
for a long time under the impression that it was a light-coloured 
Peregrine, until Mr. Borrer convinced him that it belonged to the 
group of Northern Falcons ; it was then assigned to / zs/andus, and 
was subsequently recognized as /. gyzfalo by that great authority, 
the late Mr. J. H. Gurney (Borrer’s B. Sussex, pp. 5, 6). I had the 
pleasure of examining this specimen on March 5th 1898; it is in 
adult plumage. An immature example, shot near Orford, Suffolk, 
in October 1867, has been assigned by Dr. R. B. Sharpe to this 
species. 
The Gyr-Falcon inhabits Norway and Sweden, while, according to 
Dr. Menzbier, it is common and resident about the Varanger Fjord, 
and occasionally breeds in Russian Lapland; in fact Mr. H. J. 
Pearson found a nest containing two young birds on a cliff near 
Sviati Nos, on the Murman coast, in June 1895. It does not 
appear to migrate regularly or to any great extent, but from time to 
time birds referable to this species have been obtained further south 
in Russia than the district of St. Petersburg, as well as in Poland, 
Northern Germany and Holland. 
The late Mr. John Wolley was, I believe, the first naturalist who 
gave, from his own observations (chiefly in West Finmark), any 
particulars of the breeding of this species, and for full details 
reference should be made to Prof. Newton’s ‘Ootheca Wolleyana,’ 
Pt. i., pp. 87-98, pl. viii (eggs) ; also pl. C (birds). In the majority 
of cases the nests in which the eggs were deposited were on ledges 
of rocks, but sometimes in trees; subsequently, Prof. R. Collett found 
that in the portions of West Finmark which he visited, as well as in 
the Dovrefjeld, nests in trees were more often used. The eggs, up to 
4 in number, resemble those of the Iceland Falcon, but are a trifle 
smaller. 
The distinctive characters of the plumage of the adult have already 
been sufficiently described ; the cere is yellow; the bill dark bluish ; 
tarsi and toes yellow. Length: male 19°5 in., wing 14 in.; female 
22in., wing 15 in. The young birds can hardly be distinguished 
from those of the preceding species, except by experts. 
All these Northern Falcons were formerly esteemed in Europe for 
hawking ; but the experience of our modern falconers is that they 
become “ soft” and sluggish in our climate. 
