deserted nests of this Falcon, heing too late to find any tenanted by the owners; this was in the beginning
of August; and from one of them he took an addled egg. The nest was composed o f sticks and roots, and
lined with wool, much resembling that of a Raven, to which bird it might have originally belonged. Strewn
around it lay the remains o f many Whimhrels, Golden Plovers, Guillemots, and Ducks. All the nests he saw
were in cliffs forming the boundaries o f freshwater lakes, but none o f them so high in the mountains as
be expected to find them. A similar account is given by Faber of a nest seen by him in 1821. This,
the only one he found, was in South-western Iceland ; it was large and flat, placed on the upper pa rt o f an
inaccessible wall o f rock. There were three full-grown young, two o f which, on the 6th of July, had
a ready left it and sat near by. The old birds flew around screaming, but did not attack him. Remains of
various sea-fowl lay about. Faber adds, both young and old approach the homesteads, where they sit on
elevations and often fight with the Ravens. Fonr seems to be the proper complement o f eg g s ; they are
suffused or closely freckled with reddish orange or pale reddish brown on a dull white ground, which
commonly ,s hardly discernible between the markings, though these are sometimes collected into blotches of
considerable extent; specimens measure from 2-48 to 2-13 inches by from 1-91 fd 1 7 2 ’’
“ In the days when fiilconry stood first on the list o f sports,” says Mr. Hoy, “ the Icelander was considered
a present worthy the acceptance of a king. The King o f Denmark sentavessel annually to Iceland to bring
all he Hawks o f this kind it was possible to procure for the use o f his falconers, and to be sent as presents
to the different princes on the Continent; they were even sent to the Barbary states and into the Eastern
countnes; so much were they esteemed. An old falconer, lately dead, assured me that he had seen
upwards o f fifty Iceland Falcons a t the same time in the care o f persons who were about to start with them
y presents to the different courts of Europe. A falconer who was in the hawking establishment of Louis
XVI. o f France .„formed me that they had several casts o r pairs sent annually from Denmark The
Icelander was greatly prized, not only on account o f its superior powers o f flight, but its tractable, gentle
— D 'S; 0t S° d,ffic“lt B i B S H 1 9 G er Falcon; there is also a decided difference
heir flight and manner o f striking their p rey ; the Icelander, in the language of falconry, flies more
nobly pouncing b,s prey with more lofty stoops. The flight of the hare with the female, the male being
the Heron, Kite, and Buzzards, was considered one of the finest sights the sport could afford a I
L r r i ,v ru,sde‘ore!hisffif ;"perfect!on- TheB B B S 1 H B
1 8 — !M B B s'Sbt of F e y , mounted to a considerable h eight; a slow dog!
, , w ’ ™s nsel110 keeP tbe hare running, as it would otherwise squat on being once
M M " 1 1 B ThC B ki" S *ba ■ i repeated blows on tbe back and ’head, coming'in a„
a lrn o p e rp e n d ic u la r direction upon it from a great height and with wonderful velocity, the blow being
Imos imperceptibly given m passing, and the Falcon again rising, or, as they term it, shooting up steeple
high after every stoop ¡occasionally the victim is killed the first stoop, and driven several yards by the
m B M B B 9 I B B ■ are ■ Again, in th e air the M i B B I
o f the F a k T ’ T 9 rePeated bl° " ’S’ thC BI '" tere8t ‘akea ‘he fl' ght beinS t0 B Bi BBI B watch tbe exertions Feeip itate itself with closed wings and astonishing rapidi !
r f a male ! 7 v 1 gr0Und B i be!”S mortal,y “ 'ed- An ¡„stance has occurred
Hist. vol. vi. I S s t p l l T fr0” the "eCk ° f 3 Her0" by 3 Sbgle bl0W in the Na,.
it B i B l B i i H M i the corresponding sex of the Norwegian or Gyrfalcon,
and crown striated and withlit any VeregrineJikeanne • B I 1 CO'0“r■ M &Ce perfect and well define Iv f j appearance in its countenance, the bars of the tail quite
- " - w — ¡ .
birds, and tha^ th^se^arks become T 1*"1®8 ^ ^ SUrfa°e *** °f * Striated form in the youthful