winter, occur regularly in Iceland, and not unfrequently in
the Dominion of Canada, from Newfoundland (where, according
to Mr. Eeeks, it is a pretty regular visitant in the
fall) westward, the United States, the British Islands, and
even in countries still more remote from the place of their
birth. They are, no doubt, driven away by their parents, as
is commonly the liahit of birds-of-prey, and follow the large
flocks of water-fowl, which are bred in the north, on their
southward migration, though it would appear that the Ptarmigan
forms the chief sustenance of the old birds. At the
same time, it must not be supposed that in Greenland the
white form only is found. In the southern districts of that
country, the Iceland Falcon is certainly more numerous, and,
on the other hand, there is good reason for believing that the
Greenland Falcon breeds in some of the northern parts of
British America, and perhaps even in the Old World.
Writing of what was doubtless this form of Falcon, Sir
John Richardson, in the ‘ Fauna Boreali-Americana,’ says
“ 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 65^°. 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.”
Sir John also remarks that at the season at which he saw
them, the ground was still partially covered with snow and
the lakes with ice, but that this bird, like the Owl just mentioned,
is well adapted, “ from the whiteness of its plumage,
for traversing a snowy waste without alarming the birds on
which it preys,” and further, that when the Falcon ‘‘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.”
Midway between Asia and America, this white Falcon was
seen at sea a little north of Behring’s Island by Mr. Bannister.
Crossing the Pacific, it is, according to Professor
Schlegel, known to the Japanese; and it certainly occurs on
the continent of Asia, though whether its character in
Siberia is that of a native or visitor only, there is not at
present enough evidence to decide. A specimen obtained by
Pallas is preserved in the Museum at Berlin, and, though
regarded by some writers as an adult, is, according to the
views here adopted, a bird of the year; and, if that be the
case, the question of its origin is left undecided. Dr. von
Middendorff says that the large Falcons observed by him,
even as high as lat. 75^° N., were always in dark plumage;
and the same would seem to have been the case with those
seen in South-eastern Siberia by Herr Radde, but the single
specimen from the Amoor River described by Herr von
Schrenck appears to have belonged to the Greenland form ;
and though his account leaves it questionable whether this
example was adult or immature, it would seem to have
been the latter. Falco canclicans is said by Professor
Eversmann to occur, though not commonly, on the Ural
Mountains, but it may be open to doubt whether the bird he
means be really the same as the subject of this article.
Captain Salvin and Mr. Brodrick, in their ‘ Falconry in the
British Islands,’ state that they “ have been informed by
travellers, that some few large white Falcons, which must
be Greenland Falcons, are caught annually in their passage
over the Caspian Sea, and that they are highly prized by the
falconers of Syria and Persia.”
It has been already said that this Falcon occurs yearly in
Iceland, but it does not breed th e re ; and the only instance
on record of its having been seen in that island in summer
is that mentioned by Herr Preyer in the narrative ot his
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