enable him to identify her, even if she were jet-black.
An old gamekeeper, native of Rannoch, Perthshire, and
formerly in my employment in Inverness-shire, assured
me that the “ White Palcons ” very frequently visited
Loch Rannoch and Loch Tummel during the winter
months, and that he had at various times shot and
trapped four or five, and seen many others; one of
these victims I discovered in the shop of Mr. Paton, the
well-known gunmaker at Perth; it was a young male,
killed near Poss, on Loch Tummel, in the early spring
of 1862. I had the pleasure of presenting this specimen
to the late E. Clough Newcome, of Feltwell,
Brandon, Norfolk, an old and valued friend, and in
his day without a rival in this country as a practical
falconer.
John Campbell, the gamekeeper to whom I have
above alluded, told me that, these “ White Palcons”
seemed to prefer Rooks to any other quarry, but that
they made the wild fowl very “ uneasy ” ; he never saw
one in pursuit of a Red Grouse, but once saw one make
an ineffectual stoop at an old Blackcock; on the whole,
from his professional point of view, he did not look
upon the Greenlander as such “ a bad vermin ” ! as the
“ Hunting Hawk,” i, e. Peregrine.
My experience of this bird in captivity is to the
effect that it is extremely docile, and a very fine and
powerful flyer and stooper, but what we call in falconry
a poor “ footer,” that is, it is not able, or more probably
not disposed, to bind to and grasp its quarry
firmly; it is also by no means hardy of constitution,
and is difficult to keep in good condition for field