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PALGO CANDICANS.
G R E EN L A N D FALCON.
FALCO CANDICANS. Gmel. Syst. Nat., p. 275 (1788).—Cassin. R. of N. Am., p. 13.—W o llev . Oothe Wolley, p. 11.—Bonp.
Consp. Gen. Av., p. 23.
FALCO GROENLANDICUS. Daüdin. Traité d’Orn., Vol., II., p. 107 (1800).
FALCO SACER. Cassin. B. of Cal., p. 89,
GERFAULT BLANC, DES PATS DU NORD. B u ff P la n . Enlum. ta b . 440.
FALCO LABRADORA. Aud. B. of Am., pl. 196.
FALCO ISLANDICUS. Aud. B. of Am., Oct. edit., Vol. L, pi. 19;
FALCO GYRFALCO GROENLANDICUS. Sehlbq. Mus. Pays-Bas,> 13.
FALCO GROENLANDICUS. Hancock. Ann. Nat. Hist. (1838), p. 241.
FALCO ISLANDICUS. Swain. & Rich. Fàün. Bor. Amer., p. 27.
•This beautiful hawk is a native of Greenland, but is also found amid the Arctic wilds Of our continent, these stragglers, however, being in
the. majority of cases young birds, which in the winter wander to the southward, even passing within the limits of the United States.
This speciés is light colored in all its stages of plumage, and the young assume with the first moult the mature dress. The change
occurs when they are about one year old. In the Fauna Boreali Americana, Messrs. Swainson aud R ichardson speak of a white jiawk, as
Falco Islandicus, which I have referred to this species with a query (?), the doubt arising from a statement which they make towards the close
of their article that, “ the young Jerfalcons show little white on their plumage, being mostly of a dull brown color above," while the young
of this species is light-colored; yet still they say the adult is white, which term cannot be applied with propriety to F. Islandicus.
Richardson’s account o f this hawk is as follows: “ Wo saw it often during ott?’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 a pair o f these birds attacked me as
I was climbing iñ' the vicinity o f their nést, which was built on a lofty precipice on the borders of Point Lake, in latitude 654°. 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 endeavored, 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 if 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
o f thought, showiug 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 covered with snow,
and the lakes covered with ice; but the Jerfalcou, 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 southward
in the winter, some of the Jerfalcons follow them; but from the yoiing birds being much more common about latitude 57°, than
the mature ones, the latter probably keep nearer to the 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 endeavor to save themselves by diving instantly into
the loose snow, and making their way beneath it to a considerable distance.”
The adult is pure white; the upper parts marked irregularly with bauds and sagittate spots of brownish. The primaries are
spotted with brownish-black, and the outer tail feathers have transverse- brownish-black bands upon the outer webs. Bill and claws
yellowish-white. The young birds have more brown bars and spots interspersed throughout the upper parts; and the white of the
lower parts is marked with longitudinal lines o f brown. The tail is barred with ashy brown. The ground color of the plumage is white.
The figure is life-size.