476 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. IX. 



Gray Gyrfalcon. 



Mr. W. E. Snyder records the capture of a bird of this species 

 (Auk, Vol. 22, T905, p. 413) in Wisconsin by Mr. Fred Dean, near 

 "Skunk Island," on Nov. 27, 1904, and states that the specimen 

 was examined by Prof. Robert Ridgway of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, who identified it as an immature Falco rusticolus. 



The above seems to be the only authentic record of the occurrence 

 of a Gyrfalcon in Wisconsin, although Kumlien and Hollister write 

 (Birds of Wisconsin, 1903, p. 132): "Some species of gyrfalcon has 

 been credited to the fauna of Wisconsin in an early day, a thing by 

 no means impossible or unlikely, but there is no actual record 

 obtainable at present." 



It has not been observed in Illinois. W. W. Cooke records a 

 specimen taken at Manhattan, Kansas, December i, 1880 (Bird 

 Migr. Miss. Val., 1888, p. 118). 



Although, so far as known, the Gray Gyrfalcon is the only one 

 which has been observed within our limits, it is not unlikely that other 

 forms may occur, as the Gyrfalcon and Black Gyrfalcon have been 



