NORWEGIAN JER-FALCON. 25 



diagnoses are Falco rusticolus. — F. cera palpebris pedi- 

 busque lideis, cor pore cinereo alboque undulato, collari 

 albo. Falco lanarius. — F. cera lutea pedibus rostroque 

 cceruleis, corpore subtus, maculis nigris longitudinalibus. 



The name of Jer-Falcon used to be applied 

 indiscriminately to all the three races or species. 

 Schlegel proposes to confine it entirely to the true 

 Jer, the Norway species. The name is supposed by 

 some to be derived from Gyrau, because the bird 

 rises in circles as it pursues its prey. About the 

 twelfth century these birds were brought, for the pur- 

 poses of Falconry, from the North of Europe and the 

 Low Countries to all other European nations, even to 

 the Levant. 



Schlegel suggests that those ancient Falconers may 

 have given the name they now bear, as in Holland 

 there are several words composed in the same manner, 

 as Gier, derived from the verb gieren, which in Dutch 

 has many meanings, as "uttering shrill cries," "clawing 

 or seizing objects," "flying or throwing oneself swiftly 

 from side to side." In England the name used is 

 Jer-Falcon, or simply Jer. 



The true Ger-Falcon has only been observed at 

 present in the season of propagation on the Norwegian 

 Alps. This is evidently the species which F. Boie met 

 with in 1817, when travelling in Norway, and of which 

 he relates that it leaves the mountains in winter, and 

 accompanies the Ptarmigans, which are its principal 

 food, in their migrations to the sea-shore. The Nor- 

 wegians assured M. Boie that neither white or whitish 

 Falcons exist in their country, and we cannot therefore 

 doubt but that the great Falcons of this country 

 belong to this species of Ger-Falcon. M. Boie further 

 adds that the young of the year leave the mountains 



VOL. T. E 



