THE GYR-FAIXONS. 
199 
H islandkus and H. holboelli, but is much darker than either 
t£se Tt may be remarked that no one has hitherto been able 
to detect any deferences between the young 
Range in Great Britain.-The first specimen of Norwegian 
Gvr-Falcon actually recorded in this country was iden 1 y 
Sseh It was shot by one of the attendants in my depart- 
inLit at the British Museum, Mr. George Hunt, near Orford 
TsufSlk, in October, 1867, and remains in the possession of 
his “er, Mr. E. J. Hunt, all our efforts to purchase the 
snecimen for the British section of the National Collection 
having proved futile. The bird in question was immature, 
and therefore difficult to identify with certainty, but at the time 
I examined the specimen I had just concluded my wpr 
the Accipiires, and had the Gyr-Falcons well in my mind so 
that I have no doubt that the specimen was correctly identi 
fied It was shown by me to Mr. Seebohm, who also con 
fdered it to be a Norwegian Gyr-Falcon. A second specimen 
knierin Sussex, had been in Mr. Borrer’s collection s nee 
184? but had always been looked upon as a young Iceland 
Gyr Falcon, till Mr. Gurney recognised it as an adult Norwegian 
Gyr-Falcon. 
Range outside the British Islands.— The exact range of the 
present species is very difficult to determine, as it_ has been 
divided by naturalists into several races, and it is impossible 
fo determine the value of the latter without having a large 
number of specimens together for comparison, and at present 
no Museum possesses a sufficiently complete senes. It is an 
inhabitant of Scandinavia, and, in my opinion, it will be found 
to extend across Siberia, as well as the whole of the noi them 
oart of the New World, or, as the American naturalists state, 
the interior of Arctic America, from Hudson s Bay to Alaska. 
Hahit3.-In their manner of life all the Gyr-Falcons seem to 
be very much alike, and the Norwegian bird resembles the 
Iceland Gvr-Falcon in its flight and general habits. It feeds 
principally'on Ptarmigan, but it also captures Whimbrel and 
water-fowl of various kinds. 
jjest. — For our information as to the nesting of the Gyr- 
Falcon we are almost entirely indebted to the researches o 
the late John Wolley, who found many nests in Lapland. 
