120 
PEKEGHINE FALCON. 
be quite in accordance with the habits of the bird.* 
In the New World, it is upon the northern coast 
where it is most abundant ; Melville Peninsula, 
the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and the Arctic Sea, 
are among its most numerous resorts in summer.f 
Captain King, it has been said, met with it in the 
Straits of Magellan, and the specimen of a hawk 
from New Holland, in the Museum of the Linnoean 
Society, is referred to this species. The latter, 
however, is considerably smaller in size. It is 
also mentioned, though with a doubt, as a South 
Afiican bird by Dr Smith, in his catalogue of the 
“ South African Museum.” If these localities are 
correct, i we shall have the bird nearly universal 
in distribution where situation is favourable ; and 
we think it much more than probable that it 
may also occur in the Alpine regions of India. 
The variation of plumage which takes place in 
the different ages of the birds of prey, has rendered 
this species the subject of much confusion and of 
most varied nomenclature, which has been much 
increased by the provincial and sporting names 
which have been applied to the different sexes, 
* Audubon, Orn. Biog. ii. p. 88. 
t Faun. Bor. Am. ii. 1. c. 
t We say “ if correct,” because we have not examined 
specimens from either locality, and cannot, therefore, 
speak decidedly. The authority of Dr Horsfield and Mr 
Vigors is good. 
