range, though I have ascertained that it is occasionally seen as far south as latitude
52°. It is found northward to the coast of the Arctic Sea, and probably in
the most northern Georgian Islands; it is a well-known inhabitant of Iceland,
and was observed by Captain Sabine on the west coast of Greenland, as high as
latitude 74°. It is likewise an inhabitant of the north of Europe.
We saw it often during our journeys over the “ Barren Grounds,” where its
habitual prey is the Ptarmigan, but where it also destroys Plover, Ducks, and
Geese. In the middle of June, 1821, a pair of these birds attacked me as I was
climbing in the vicinity of their nest, which was built on a lofty precipice on the
borders of Point Lake, in latitude 65J?, 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. Although their flight was much more rapid, they bore considerable
resemblance to the Snowy Owl. At the period at which I saw them, the
ground was still partially clothed with snow, and the lakes covered with ice; but
the Jerfalcon, like the Strix nyctea of the same districts, is well calculated, from the
whiteness of its plumage, for traversing a snowy waste, without alarming the birds
on which it preys. As the Ptarmigan partially migrate southwards in the winter,
some of the Jerfalcons follow them ; but, from the young birds being much more
common, about latitude 57°, than the mature ones, the latter probably keep nearer
to their breeding-places in the more northern, rocky, barren ground districts all the
year. When the Jerfalcon pounces down upon a flock of Ptarmigan, the latter
endeavour to save themselves by diving instantly Into the loose snow, and making
their way beneath it to a considerable distance.
DESCRIPTION
Of a mature bird (supposed to be a male) from Hudson’s Bay, in Mr. Leadbeater’s collection.
C olour.—White, with some clove-brown spots on. the dorsal aspect. The head is entirely
white, and the neck is nearly so, there being only a few central brown marks on the feathers
of the nape. On the back the clove-brown forms a pyriform blotch on each feather,
and on the rump it is confined to a narrow streak along the shaft. The spots are smaller on
the lesser wing-coverts ; and on the greater coverts, secondaries, and scapularies, the brown
is disposed in bars, which do not reach the margins of the feathers. The primaries are
white, their shafts, and one or two inches of their ends only, being blackish-brown ; they
are narrowly edged at the tips with white. The tail feathers and their coverts are entirely
white. The whole under surface of the bird is pure white, except the ends of the quill
feathers, which are hair-brown. The bill is pale greenish-gray, becoming darker at the tip.
Cere and lores wax-yellow. Legs yellow.
F orm, &c.—Bill short, strong, and much curved. The upper mandible has a rather
narrow ridge; its cutting margin is undulated, having an acute tooth near its point, and an
obtuse lobe posterior to it. The under mandible is truncated at the tip, and deeply notched
on its cutting margin, for the reception of the upper tooth. The nostrils are round, with a
central pillar. The cere and lores are mostly covered with small white hairs and feathers,
arranged in a radiated manner. The wings are shorter than, the tail; the second quill
feather is the longest; the third is a quarter of an inch, and the first half an inch shorter
than the second ; the fourth is half an inch shorter than the first, and more than an inch
shorter than the second; the remainder diminish in succession an inch each. The first
and second have their inner webs sinuated, and the outer webs of the second and third are
also sinuated. The tail is nearly square. The tips of the thigh feathers reach to the roots
of the toes. The tarsus, rather more than two inches and a quarter long, is feathered for an
inch and three quarters; its lower part being reticulated with crowded scales. The toes have
their first phalanges reticulated, and the others protected above by large transverse scales.
There is a short web between the outer and middle toes. The hind toe is shorter than the
others, and is armed with the longest nail; the inner toe and nail are next in size: the
outer toe is rather longer and more slender than the inner one, and has the smallest nail of
all; the middle toe is half an inch longer than these; its nail being a little bigger than the
outer one. All the nails are strong, sharp, much curved, and grooved beneath.
Dimensions.
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines.
Length from the tip of the bill to the end of Length of the bill from the angle of the mouth 1 6
the tail • . . 24 0 ,, of the tarsus S - v . 2 4
„ of the tail . . . 10 0 „ of the middle toe ■ft 0
,, of the longest quill feather 15 0 ,, of the middle claw . 0 9
,, of the bill, measured along its ridge . '1 3
The young Jerfalcons show little white on their plumage, being mostly of a dull
brown colour above. As they grow older, the white margins encroach on the
brown, which becomes merely a central blotch, indented on each side by the white;
while in aged birds the plumage is mostly pure white, varied only by a few narrow
transverse brown bars on the upper parts. Specimens are occasionally
procured totally white; but whether they ought to be considered as birds in the
most perfect state of plumage, or merely as varieties, I have not been able to
ascertain.