FALCO GYRFALCO, rinn.

Norwegian or Gyrfalcon.

Falco gyrfalco, Linn. Faun. Suec., p. 64.

norvegicus, Wolley, Sale Cat. of Eggs, 1858.

—— (Leerofalco) candicans, var. y. gytfalco, Blas. List of Birds of Eur.
Ce) 9y?/alco, Gray, Hand-list of Birds, p. 18.

 

» Eng. edit., p. 3.

 

Wrrnour a few words of explanation it might appear to some of my readers that I am extending the present
work beyond its proper limits by figuring on the opposite Plate a bird which has neve

r yet been identified as
a visitor to the British Islands ; but such is not my wish,

It is given because the chances are that, although
not recognized, the bird does occasionally visit us, and that I ma

y be enabled to throw a clearer light upona
subject of great importance than I could do by leaving it

undelineated. To render my meaning more
apparent, I must inform those of my readers who are not well versed in ornithology that it

is a question
among naturalists whether the Norwegian, the Iceland, and the Gre

enland Falcons are one and the same
species, or whether each possesses characters of sufficient importance to distinguish it from its congeners.
Whatever conclusions some may have arrived at with regard to their specific value, I for
cannot but regard them as distinct from each other.

The true Gyrfalcon or Norwegian bird is by far the darkest in colour, and somewhat the smallest in size,
the fully adult male being but little larger and having wings scarcely longer than the female of Falco

my own part

peregrinus, to which it assimilates rather closely in colou ring and in possessing the beautiful greyish bloom
which pervades the plumage of that species. These differences (by which the bird may be at once distin-
guished from its congeners) being so much more readily appreciated by the eye than they can be conveyed
to the mind by the most accurate description forms an additional reason for giving the accompanying
Plate. The young Gyrfalcon, on leaving the nest, is much darker than a young Icelander of the same
age—the back, wings, and tail being of a nearly uniform blackish brown, while the feathers of the under
surface (which are also of the same colour) are but narrowly edged with white.

““No faleoner in time past or present,” says the reviewer of Dr. Bree’s ‘ Birds of Europe,’ in ‘ The Ibis’
for 1859, ‘‘ would ever think of calling an ‘Icelander’ a ‘Gyrfalcon.’ With him the Gyrfalcon is and
always has been the large Falcon obtained in Norway, with dark, almost Peregrine-like cheeks, a stout body,
short tail, and other distinctive marks which it is unnecessary here to describe. At the present time many
people have but a faint idea of what a Gyrfalcon is; but we beg to assure our readers that the different
words ‘Gyrfalco,’ ‘ Gyrfalcon,’ ‘ Gerfaut,’ and ‘ Geierfalke’ should never be applied to any but the great
Falcon of Scandinavia. That the true Gyrfalcon has occurred in this country we certainly think probable ;
but it must be borne in mind that nearly all the large northern Falcons killed here are young birds of the
year, and that it is not easy, though, we think, always possible, to detect the Icelander from the Gyrfalcon
when immature.”

The countries inhabited by the Gyrfaleon are Norway, Lapland, and Finland; in all probability it is also
found in the northern parts of Russia, if not in Siberia. It habitually breeds in the three countries first
mentioned, and probably also in the two latter. In autumn many of the young and; doubtless, some of the
old birds proceed directly south, and winter in more temperate latitudes ; thus it is at that season that it
appears in Holland. ae

With respect to the habits and manners of these large Falcons as detailed by the older authors, it is by no
means an easy matter to distinguish to which of them some of their remarks apply; but there can be no
doubt as to nha has been written respecting the nidification of the Gyrfalcon by that very estimable oy
and correct observer of nature, the late Mr. John Wolley, who not only sought out the breeding-places of
this noble Falcon and many other of our rarer birds, but passed several winters in Lapland for the purpose
of carrying out his researches in the ensuing springs.

“Mr. Wolley was, I believe,” says Professor Newton, “the first naturalist able to give from his own observa-

tion any particulars of the breeding of this noble bird. The curious fact that the Gyrfalcon, like so many other

Accipitres, adapts itself to circumstances (breeding in trees when rocks are wanting near places that abound with
>

food for its offspring) will not escape notice. It was not until the fourth summer of Mr. Wolley’s residence in

Lapland, that he became acquainted with this fact ; and then, as his remarks show, he was justly sceptical con-

cerning it at first.”