WHITE GYRFALCON. 213 



lower parts, white, immaculate on throat ; elsewhere, streaked and variously 

 spotted with dusky. Young: — Darker than the adults at an early stage, some 

 of the lighter markings tinged with ochraceous. 



Hab. — Arctic Regions, including Arctic America and Greenland. 



Neat, placed on a shelf of a cliff. 



Eggs, two to four, light brownish-red, faintly speckled with umber-brown. 



This is the Gyrfalcon of America, and perhaps also of Europe, for 

 the difference between the two, if any, is very trifling. There are 

 now two different species and two sub-species of Gyrfalcon described 

 as American, and we bow to the decision of the revision committee 

 who have so decided, but still hold our own opinion, that when this 

 fever of subdivision has cooled off a little and we become better 

 acquainted with this group, one species will be sufficient to include 

 the w^le. 



At all events I am much pleased at being able to place this one 

 among the " Birds of Ontario," and for this privilege I am indebted 

 to Mr. G. R. White, of Ottawa, who secured, on the 23rd December, 

 1890, a fine adult male that was bestowing unsolicited attention 

 upon his domestic pigeons. 



This is so decidedly a northern bird, that it is rare to find it even 

 as far south as Ottawa. It is of circumpolar distribution, and has 

 been found breeding in Greenland. In Alaska this form is rather 

 Tare, though some of the others are quite common. Speaking of 

 Falco rusticolus gyrfalco, Mr. Nelson says : "Throughout all Alaska, 

 from the Aleutian Islands north, both along the coast and through 

 the interior, extending from Behring Straits across the northern 

 portion of British America, the present falcon is the commonest 

 resident bird of prey. It frequents the vicinity of cliffs and rocky 

 points about the sea coast, or the rocky ravines of the interior, 

 •during the breeding season, and the remainder of the year, especially 

 in the fall, it is found wandering over the country wherever food 

 •can be obtained. In a series of skins of this species from various 

 parts of its range, there is found an interminable gradation from 

 the whitest islandus to the darkest gyrfalco and rusticolus. 



"Specimens in the National Museum collection from Greenland 

 show the widest extremes, which are bridged by connecting speci- 

 mens, so that it is impossible to definitely separate them. Newton's 

 separation of gyrfalco from islandus on the assumption that the 

 head is lighter than the back in one, and uniform with the back in 

 the other, rests upon a purely individual character, as shown by my 

 Alaskan series of skins." 



