THE ICELAND OR JER FALCON. 81 



short. Tail very deeply forked, of twelve feathers, the lateral ones extremely 

 elongated. 



Bill bluish-black above, light blue on the cere, and the edges of both man- 

 dibles. Edges of the eyelids light blue; iris black. Feet light blue, tinged 

 with green; claws flesh-coloured. The head, the neck all round, and the 

 under parts, are white, tinged with bluish-grey; the shafts of the head, neck, 

 and breast blackish. The rest of the plumage is black, with blue and purple 

 reflections. 



Length 25 inches; extent of wings 51|; beak along the back 1^. 



The female is similar to the male. 



Genus IX.— FALCO, Linn. FALCON. 



Bill short, robust; its upper outline decurved from the base; cere short, 

 bare; edge of upper mandible with a festoon and a prominent angular process. 

 Nostrils round, with an internal ridge, ending in a central tubercle. Feet 

 strong; tarsi moderate, reticulate; toes long, broadly scutellate, the anterior 

 webbed at the base; claws long, well curved, very acute. Wings long, 

 pointed; second quill longest, first and third nearly equal; outer toe abruptly 

 cut out on the inner web. Tail rather long, nearly even. 



THE ICELAND OR JER FALCON. 



Falco islandicus, Lath. 

 PLATE XIX.— Male and Female. 



On the 6th August, 1833, while my young friends, Thomas Lincoln and 

 Joseph Cooledge, accompanied by my son John, were rambling by the 

 rushing waters of a brook banked by stupendous rocks, eight or ten miles 

 from the port of Bras d'Or, on the coast of Labrador, they were startled by 

 a loud and piercing shriek, which issued from the precipices above them. 

 On looking up, my son observed a large hawk plunging over and about him. 

 It was instantly brought to the ground. A second hawk dashed towards the 

 dead one, as if determined to rescue it; but it quickly met the same fate, the 

 contents of my son's second barrel bringing it to his feet. 



Vol. I. 13 



