MAR 30 1907 
Recent Capture of a Jerfalcon at Portland, Me., 
and Review of Local Records of the Group. 
By Arthur H. Norton, Portland. 
The specimen of Falco rusticolus gyrfalco , represented in Plate I, 
was killed at North Deering, now a part of Portland, on December 
1 1 , 1906. It swooped into the hen yard of Mrs. John Smith on Allen 
Avenue, killing a large, pugnacious rooster, which it speedily began 
to devour. The outcry of the poultry attracted attention, which 
caused the bird to leap to flight, thrusting its head through the wire 
yard, where it was dispatched with a cudgel by Cyrus Thurlow. 
It was mounted and is still in the possession of Mrs. Smith. 
This account of desperate strength calls to mind that given by 
Mr. H. A. Purdie, 1 of the specimen with such a remarkable hist ory 
p.tf 
now in the museum of Brown University, which was caught in the j P'ty 
arms of a man as it emerged from beneath a barn where it had pur- 
sued a fowl. 
The present specimen is considerably darker than the one just 
mentioned. It was examined by Mr. Nathan Clifford Brown and 
the writer, both referring it to gyrfalco independently of the other. 
A photographic print of it was also pronounced gyrfalco by Dr. 
Robert Ridgway. 
With the presentation of the foregoing record a review of the 
local specimens seems timely. 
At the request of Mr. Nathan C. Brown, I have lately examined 
the specimen recorded somewhat tentatively by him in April, 1882. 
As a very small edition of the paper containing his original record 
was issued, I quote from it: “Although I was able to make but a 
hasty examination of the specimen before it was taken from the city, 
iBull. Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. XV, p. 188. 
2,6 
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