FALCO CANDICANS, J. F. GmeL 
Greenland Falcon, lig*lit race (adult and young*). 
FaJco candieans, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 275. 
groenlandicus, Daud. Traite d’Orn., tom. ii. p. 107. 
fuscus, Fabr. Faun. Groenl., p. 56. 
arcticm, Holb. 
Hierofalco candieans, Cuv. R^gn. Anim., edit. 1, tom. i. p. 312. 
grcenlandicus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl., totn. i. p. 16. 
Falco (^Hierofalco) candieans, Bias. List of Birds of Eur., Eng. edit. p. 3. 
yyiybZco groenlandicus, Schleg. 
The bird under consideration is the Falco candieans of Ginelin, F. grcenlandicus of Daudin, and F. arcticus of 
Holboll, specific names which at the same time furnish the reader with some idea of the colouring of this 
species and intimate the countries it inhabits. The native home, then, of this fine Falcon is the high northern 
regions, within rather than without the arctic circle, from which youthful (and, occasionally, adult) birds 
wander during autumn and winter to more temperate latitudes ; and hence it is that some parts of America 
and Europe are now and then favoured with Its visits. In the course of the present work hints have from 
time to time been thrown out as to the probability, nay, almost certainty, of the existence of some unknown 
land near the pole, to which rare birds retire to breed, and, perhaps, fat reindeer resort, as they do to 
Spitzbergen, for pasture, free from the molestation of man. If there be such an open country, then the 
present bird, doubtless, also frequents it. For myself I have always considered the very high northern 
regions to be the principal habitat of this the whitest of Falcons, a bird which possesses features whereby 
it may at all times be distinguished from its near allies. Even from a very early stage it differs from 
both the Iceland and the Gyrfalcon, and on attaining maturity acquires characters which neither of those 
birds possesses; there are also other differences, which indicate its distinctness still more strikingly, namely 
the light or yellowish-white colouring of the cere, legs, toes, and even the claws, and the fact that the 
young birds in their early plumage are white or nearly white, while the young of the other two species are 
very dark. Surely, If these differences are constant, we shovdd not hesitate to adopt the distinctive appellation 
assigned to it. 
“The Greenland Falcon,” remarks Professor Newton in his edition of Yarrell’s ‘British Birds,’ “seems 
to be most plentiful in the inhospitable regions whicb enclose Baffin’s Bay and extend to the westward. 
From this tract adult birds seldom wander to other lands, though the young, especially in autumn and 
winter, occur regularly in Iceland, and not unfrequently in the Dominion of Canada from Newfoundland 
westward, the United States, the British Islands, and even in countries still more remote from the place of 
their birth. They are, no doubt, driven away by their parents, as is commonly the habit with birds of prey, 
and follow the large flocks of Waterfowl, which are bred In the north, on their southward migration, though 
It would appear that the ptarmigan forms the chief sustenance of the old birds. At the same time it must 
not be supposed that in Greenland the white form only is found. In the southern districts of that country 
the Iceland Falcon Is certainly numerous ; and, on the other hand, there Is good reason for believing that 
the Greenland Falcon breeds in some of the northern parts of British America. Writing of what was 
doubtless this form of Falcon, Sir John Richardson in the ‘Fauna Boreali-americana ’ says: — ‘In the 
middle of June 1821, a pair of these birds attacked me as I was climbing in tbe vicinity of tbeir nest, 
which was built on a lofty precipice on tbe borders of Point Lake, in latitude 65^°. They flew in circles, 
uttering loud and harsh screams, and alternately stooping with such velocity that their motion through 
the air produced a loud rushing noise, they struck their claws within an inch or two of my head. I 
endeavoured, by keeping the barrel of my gun close to my cheek, and suddenly elevating its muzzle when 
they were in the act of striking, to ascertain whether they had the power of instantaneously changing 
the direction of their rapid course, and found that they invariably rose above the obstacle with the quickness 
of thought, showing equal acuteness of vision and power of motion.’ 
“ It has already been said that this Falcon occurs yearly In Iceland ; but it does not breed there ; and the 
only instance on record of its having been seen in that island in summei' is that mentioned by Herr Preyer 
in his travels. It has very probably occurred on the continent of Europe ; but, owing to the way in which 
it has been confounded with tbe cognate forms, the point cannot at present be decided. The same confusion 
renders useless many of the records of the appearance of large Falcons in the United Kingdom. 
