only from that of Icelandic examples in being slightly darker
(Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 384); hut the British Museum
contains an immature specimen from Kotzebue Sound, which
is as deeply coloured as the Labrador birds, and might at
first sight he taken for a Gyr-Falcon. Whether Falco
islandus crosses to Asia cannot he determined, for the dark
examples seen by Dr. von Middendorff and Herr Radde in
Siberia, and mentioned in the foregoing article, were at least
as likely to have been the young of Falco gyrfalco.
From information supplied to Mr. Hewitson by Mr. Proctor,
the latter saw in northern Iceland several deserted nests
of this Falcon, being 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
of sticks and roots, and lined with wool, much resembling
that of a Raven, to which bird it might originally
have belonged. Strewn around it lay the remains of many
Wliimbrels, Holden Plovers, Guillemots, and Ducks. All
the nests he saw were in cliffs, forming the boundaries of
freshwater lakes, but none of them so high in the mountains
as he expected to have found them. A similar account of a
nest, seen by him in 1821, is given by Faber. This, the
only one he found, was in south-western Iceland. I t was
large and flat, placed on the upper part of an inaccessible
wall of rock. There were three full-grown young, two of
which, on the 6tli of July, had already left it and sat near
by. The old birds flew around screaming, hut did not attack
him. Remains of various species of sea-fowl lay about.
Later in the year, Faber adds, both young and old approach
the homesteads, where they sit on elevations, and often fight
with the Ravens. Four seems to be the proper complement
of eggs; they are suffused or closely freckled with reddish-
orange or pale reddish-brown on a dull white ground, which
commonly is hardly discernible between the markings,
though these are sometimes collected into blotches of considerable
extent. Specimens measure from 2-48 to 2‘1B, by
from 1-91 to 1'72 in.
Modern falconers do not appear to value the Icelander so
highly as did their predecessors. Still it is occasionally
used at the present day, and mostly for catching Hares.
Years ago it was much in vogue for taking the Kite, which
often afforded excellent sport. When one of these birds
was seen soaring aloft, an Owl, having a Fox’s brush tied to
its leg, was thrown up, whereon the Kite, imagining the
Owl was carrying off a quarry, would descend, the Falcons
were let go, and occasionally a flight of several miles in
length followed.
In the adult Iceland Falcon, as represented by the front
figure of the engraving, the crown and sides of the head and
the nape are white, slightly tinged with oclireous, each feather
having a greyish-brown longitudinal streak, sometimes
so broad that the white is reduced to a narrow margin.
There is generally more or less trace of a decided mystacial
stripe, and the ear-coverts are darker than the rest of the
head. The back, rump and wing-coverts are of a brownish-
grey, each feather with a narrow border and one or more
interrupted bands of dull white, which again are often freckled
with a darker shade. The secondaries and tertials are very
similar, but with a greater number of bands. The wing-
quills are greyish-brown, mottled, especially on the inner
webs, with dirty white in the form of imperfect bars. The
tail, in like manner, is barred with greyish-brown, darker
above and paler beneath, the light interspaces being often
much freckled, and in these darker-coloured specimens the
general aspect of the whole upper surface of the bird, from a
little distance, is bluish. The under parts are of a more or
less pure white, with a few linear streaks on the throat along
the shaft of the feathers: these streaks increase both in
number and breadth till they have the form of heart-shaped
spots on the breast and sides. Some specimens have the
flanks and abdomen similarly marked, but in others the spots
again decrease in number and extent, and the under tail-
coverts seem to be never unmarked. The bill is of a bluish
liorn-colour, darkest at the tip ; the cere, orbits and feet are
greenish-yellow, but some individuals seem never to attain