THE GYKFALCON. 285 



allow a train of dog sledges to pass within 40 or 50 yards, only noticing their 

 presence by slowly turning its head. 



"It was seen in the vicinity of Bering Strait and around the shore of 

 Norton Sound during the cruise of the Cor win in the summer of 1881, as 

 also upon the northeast shore of Siberia, in the vicinity of East Cape and 

 Plover Bay." 1 



Mr. L. M. Turner obtained several specimens of this Gyrfalcon in the 

 vicinity of St. Michael, where he says it is a constant resident, except during 

 protracted periods of severe weather in winter only. According to the natives 

 it breeds on the high hills, either on a rocky ledge or on the moss-covered 

 ground. He failed to obtain the nest and eggs. 



Mr. James Lockhart found the Gyrfalcon breeding on the Yukon Kiver 

 100 miles above the mouth of the Porcupine River, and took a nest and three 

 eggs there in June, 1862. Messrs. MacDougall and Jones also took their 

 eggs near Fort Yukon, Alaska, in 1865, and all of these specimens are now 

 in the U. S. National Museum collection. 



From our present knowledge it appears that the Gyrfalcon breeds north 

 of latitude 65°. It has not been found nesting farther south than this, so 

 far as I can learn, although in winter these birds straggle sometimes into 

 Canada and the northern borders of the United States. In Scandinavia the 

 Gyrfalcon usually commences laying about the end of April, and the nests 

 are generally placed on cliffs, rarely in trees. 



The eggs are three or four in number. The ground color, when distinctly 

 visible, which is not often the case, is creamy white. This is usually hidden 

 by a pale cinnamon rufous suffusion. In an occasional specimen it seems to be 

 pinkish vinaceous. The eggs are closely spotted and blotched with small, irreg- 

 ular markings of dark reddish brown, brick-red, ochraceous rufous, and tawny. 

 These markings — usually pretty evenly distributed over the entire egg — are 

 generally small in size, and more or less confluent. Some specimens show 

 scarcely any trace of markings, the egg being of a nearly uniform color 

 throughout. One of the eggs figured, from an incomplete set of two (No. 

 10172), both alike, is a most peculiarly marked specimen. In the general pat- 

 tern of markings the eggs of the Gyrfalcon approach those of the Prairie 

 Falcon (Falco mexicanus) much closer than those of the Duck Hawk (Falco 

 peregrinus anatuni), which as a rule are much darker. In shape they vary from 

 ovate to rounded ovate. The shells of these eggs feel rough to the touch, are 

 irregularly granulated, and without luster. 



The average measurement of thirty-two specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection is 59.5 by 45 millimetres, the largest egg in the series 

 measuring 63 by 46.5, the smallest 57.5 by 43 millimetres. 



The type specimens figured were obtained as follows: No. 10172 (PI. 9, 

 Fig. 9), from an incomplete set of two, was taken June 12, 1864; No. 13790 

 (PL 9, Fig. 8), a single egg, taken in June, 1865 ; No. 13792 (PI. 9, Fig. 6), 



1 Report on Natural History Collection made in Alaska, Nelson, 1877-1881, pp. 146, 147. 



