82 THE ICELAND OR JER FALCON. 



The nest of these hawks was placed on the rocks, about fifty feet from 

 their summit, and more than a hundred from their base. Two other birds 

 of the same species, and apparently in the same plumage, now left their eyry 

 in the cliff, and flew off. The party having ascended by a circuitous and 

 dangerous route, contrived to obtain a view of the nest, which, however, 

 was empty. It was composed of sticks, sea-weeds, and mosses, about two 

 feet in diameter, and almost flat. About its edges were strewed the remains 

 of their food, and beneath, on the margin of the stream, lay a quantity of 

 wings of the Uria Troile, Mormon arcticus, and Tetrao Saliceti, together 

 with large pellets composed of fur, bones, and various substances. 



My son and his companions returned towards evening. The two hawks 

 which they had brought with them, I knew at once to be of a species which 

 I had not before seen, at least in America. Think not that I laid them down 

 at once — No, reader, I attentively examined every part of them. Their 

 eyes, which had been carefully closed by the young hunters, I opened, to 

 observe their size and colour. I drew out their powerful wings, distended 

 their clenched talons, looked into their mouths, and admired the sharp tooth- 

 like process of their upper mandible. I then weighed them in my hand, 

 and at length concluded that no Hawk that I had ever before handled, looked 

 more like a axeat Peregrine Falcon. 



Their flight resembled that of the Peregrine Falcon, but was more elevated, 

 majestic, and rapid. They rarely sailed when travelling to and fro, but used 

 a constant beat of their wings. When over the Puffins, and high in the air, 

 they would hover almost motionless, as if watching the proper moment to 

 close their pinions, and when that arrived, they would descend almost per- 

 pendicularly on their unsuspecting victims. 



Their cries also resembled those of the Peregrine Falcon, being loud, 

 shrill, and piercing. Now and then they would alight on some of the high 

 stakes placed on the shore as beacons to the fishermen who visit the coast, 

 and stand for a few minutes, not erect like most other Hawks, but in the 

 position of a Lestris or Tern, after which they would resume their avocations, 

 and pounce upon a Puffin, which they generally did while the poor bird was 

 standing on the ground at the very entrance of its burrow, apparently quite 

 unaware of the approach of its powerful enemy. The Puffin appeared to 

 form no impediment to the flight of the Hawk, which merely shook itself 

 after rising in the air, as if to arrange its plumage, as the Fish Hawk does 

 when it has emerged from the water with a fish in its talons. 



These Falcons were all that were seen of this species during our expedi- 

 tion, and I am inclined to think that this bird must be rare in that part of 

 Labrador. On dissecting the two killed, I found them to be a male and a 

 female, and saw that the latter had laid eggs that season. It is therefore 



