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FALCONIDiE, DIUENAL BIEDS OF PEEY. GEN. 158. 213 



158. Genus PALCO Linnaeus. 

 * Tarsus more or less feathered above, elsewhere irregularly reticuLate in small 

 pattern ; 2d quill longest ; 1st alone decidedly emarginate on inner web. 



9, ^ Jerfalcon, or Gyrfalcon. Tarsus feathered fully half-way down in front, 

 with only a narrow bare strip behind, and longer than middle toe ; 1st quill 

 shorter than 3d. Upward of 2 feet long; wing about 16 inches; tail 10. 

 White, with dark markings much as in the snowy owd ; or, ash-colored with 

 numerous lighter bars; young striped longitudinally beneath. An arctic 

 falcon, of circumpolar distribution, in this country reaching the northern 

 states in winter. It is split into several varieties which, however, do not 

 seem to be strictly geographical, and concerning Avhich ornithologists ai'e 

 singularly agreed to disagree. In var. candiccois, the white predominates 

 over the dark markings, and the bill and claws are white ; N. Greenland ; 

 Iceland; Arct. Am. and Eur. AuD., i, 81, pi. 19; Elliot, pi. 30; Cass. 

 in Be, 13. Invar, islcmdicus, dark markings predominate, and the bill and 

 claws are dark ; the crown is lighter than the back, and the dark maxillary 

 patches are slight; S. Greenland ; Iceland; N. Eur. and Am. ; S. to U. S. 

 in winter. Cass, in Bd., 13; Elliot, pi. 31. Var. gyrfalco is like the 

 last, but with the crown darker than the back, and the moustaches heavy. 

 Other strains are sometimes recognized by name. See Newton, Proc. 

 Phila. Acad. 1871, 95; Ridgway, ihid. 1870, 110; Baird, Trans. Chicago 

 Acad, i, 271 sacer (Forst. 1772). 



i-i ; Lanier Falcon. Tarsus feathered a third way down in front, broadly bare 

 behind, and longer than middle toe; 1st quill shorter than third. Afoot 

 and a half long; Aving 13-14; tail 7-8. Above, plain brown, the feathers 

 bordered with rusty, the nape, forehead and superciliary line white ; below, 

 white, with broAvn maxillary patches and other streaks on the breast and 

 belly, the flanks barred ; tail barred and tipped with whitish ; adult with 

 yellow iris and yellowish legs ; young with brown iris and bluish legs. 

 Western United States and southward; E. to Illinois {Sargent, Ridgway). 

 F. j)olyagrus Cass., 111. 88, pi. 16; Bd., 12; Coop., 458. . mexicanus. 



14 Peregrine Falcon. Duck Haioh. Tarsus feathered but a very little way 

 above in front, and not longer than the middle toe ; 1st quill not shorter 

 than 3d. Size of the last, or rather _ 



less. Above, blackish-ash, with 

 more or less evident paler waves ; 

 below, and the forehead, ^white with 

 more or less fulvous tinge, and 

 transverse bars of blackish ; con- 

 spicuous black cheek-patches. 

 Young with the colors not so in- 

 tense, tending rather to brown ; the 



tawny shade below stronger, the lower jiarts longitudinally striped. North 

 America ;" generally distributed, not abundant. F. jjeregrinus WfLS., ix, 



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