A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 3. Robert Ridgway
of rocks thirty miles northwest of Fort Anderson. It was composed of a few withered twigs, and lined with mosses and hay. It was found on the 27th of May, and contained two eggs nearly fresh, and two in a state of greater development. One nest, placed on a broad branch of a tree, near the trunk, was of considerable size. Another nest was on the ground, on the side of a steep and high hill. The earliest date of finding these nests is given as the 10th of May. The eggs then found were fresh. The ground at that time was still thickly covered with snow, and the weather was very cold. In a nest found five days later the eggs contained partially developed embryos. In nearly every instance the eggs seem to have been in different stages of development in the same nest. In some, young birds were in the same nest with eggs only partially developed, and in another an egg perfectly fresh was in the same nest with others nearly ready to hatch. A nest found July 3 contained young about two days old; another, on May 27, had eggs with large embryos; and one, on June 25, had young nearly ready to fly.
Mr. Donald Gunn claims that this Falcon is the only Hawk that is resident in the Arctic regions throughout the year. It is known to the Indians by the name of Pepunesu, and this name is applied to it because it passes the winter with them. It is a very powerful bird, and commits great havoc among the Partridges, so much so that in former times the Hudson Bay Company gave a reward of a quart of rum to every hunter who brought in the head of one of these Falcons. All the other Hawks are only summer visitors.
Mr. Bannister was informed by the residents of St. Michaels that a Hawk, presumed to be this species, is not unfrequent there, though he did not happen to meet with it. On his voyage home, on the 21st of October, 1866, when off the coast of Kamtschatka, north of Behring’s Island, one alighted in the rigging of the ship, and continued with them for several hours.
Although very rare in any part of the United States, occasional individuals have been taken in different localities, and in one instance a pair was known to breed for several successive seasons in Vermont. This information I have from Mr. Clarence King, who, when a lad at school in the town of Dummerston, observed a pair nesting among some high cliffs, and informed me of the fact at the time of the occurrence. One of these birds is recorded by Mr. Lawrence as having been taken on Long Island in the winter of 1856.
Mr. Boardman gives it as occurring near Calais in winter, but very rare. Professor Verrill found them not uncommon in Oxford County, Me., where they were frequently seen during winter, flying about the extensive meadows near Norway; but they were very shy and watchful, and it was hardly possible to procure a specimen. It is very unusual in Eastern Massachusetts, and only very rarely and occasionally have specimens been taken. Mr. Jillson obtained a specimen, in 1840, at Seekonk. One was shot, in 1864, near Providence, R. I., by Mr. Newton Dexter.
Mr. Audubon relates that, August 6, 1833, his son, John W. Audubon, found a nest of this Falcon among some rocky cliffs near Bras d’Or, Labrador, containing four young birds ready to fly, two of which were procured. The nest was placed among the rocks, about fifty feet from their summit and more than a hundred from their base. It was inaccessible, but, having been examined from above, was seen to be empty. It was composed of sticks, sea-weeds, and mosses, was about two feet in diameter, and was almost flat. Its edges were strewed with the remains of their food, and beneath the nest was an accumulation of the wings of Ptarmigans, Mormons, Uriæ, etc., mingled with large pellets of fur, bones, and various substances.
Their flight is spoken of as similar to that of the Peregrine Falcon, but more elevated, majestic, and rapid. Their cries were also like those of that Falcon, being very loud, shrill, and piercing. Occasionally this bird was seen to alight on one of the high stakes placed on the shore. There it would stand, in the position of a Tern, for a few moments, and then would pounce upon a Puffin, as the latter bird was standing at the entrance of its burrow, unaware of the approach of its enemy. The weight of the Puffin seemed to form no impediment to the Hawk in its flight.
The European Gerfalcons are said to seldom appear south of the 52d parallel of latitude, or north of 74°. They are nowhere numerous, and were formerly much sought for, and purchased, at immense prices, for purposes of falconry. Great differences were supposed to exist in regard to the habits and other peculiarities of the several races. The Iceland Falcons commanded the highest prices, and were regarded as a species quite distinct from the F. gyrfalco. The former was much the more valuable, both as more rare, and as a bird of higher courage and of a more rapid and bolder flight, and a bird that could, on that account, be “flown” successfully at larger game.
The Gerfalcons, in Europe, build on the rocky coasts of Norway and Iceland, and are said to defend their young with great courage and determination. They are comparatively rare in the British Islands, especially the more southern portions. Even in the Orkneys it is only an occasional visitor.
All the eggs of the several forms of Gerfalcon that I have seen present common characteristics, and do not differ from each other more than eggs known to belong to the same species of Hawk are frequently found to vary. One from Greenland, presumed to belong to the candicans, measures 2.37 inches in length by 1.71 in breadth. The predominant color of its markings is a deep reddish-brown, very generally and nearly equally diffused over its surface, concealing the ground-color, which is lighter and of a yellowish-brown shade.
An egg of the islandicus, from Iceland, has the same measurements, but is so slightly yet uniformly marked with light yellowish-brown as to seem to be of one color only,—a light brown, shaded with yellow.
An egg from Norway, of the form gyrfalco, is 2.42 inches in length, 1.71 in breadth, has a ground-color of a dirty yellowish-white, and is marked with spots, dottings, and confluent blotches of yellowish-brown, more so about the larger end.
The series of eggs of Falco sacer in the Smithsonian Collection exhibits the following range of variation in size, color, and markings: length, from 2.30 to 2.45 inches; breadth, 1.60 to 1.90 inches; ground-color usually a light reddish-ochre, varying to pinkish on the one hand, and to rufous on the other. They are usually sprinkled all over with small spots, which are sometimes not distinguishable from the ground-color when this is very deep, and again larger and quite conspicuous.
An egg of the variety candicans, from Greenland (No. 2,606, S. I.), measures 2.25 inches by 1.80. In color and in markings it is like the average eggs of variety sacer, namely, pale rufous, sprinkled over with a slightly deeper shade.
Falco polyagrus, Cassin, B. Cal. & Tex. 1853, 88.—Ib. P. A. N. S. 1855, 277; B. N. Am. 1858, 12.—Heerm. Pacific R. Rep’t, II, 1855, 31.—Kennerly, P. R. R. III, 1856, 19.—Coop. & Suckl. P. R. R. XII, 1860, 143.—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 7.—Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, 85.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 323.—Gray, Hand List, I, 1869, 20. Falco lanarius, var. mexicanus, Ridgway in Coues’ Key, 1872.
Sp. Char. Adult (♂, No. 59,063, Wahsatch Mountains, Utah, May 23, 1868; parent of eggs; L. E. Ricksecker). Above cinereous-drab, becoming gradually paler and more bluish posteriorly, barred, indistinctly, everywhere with a more dusky tint, the shafts of all the feathers blackish; anteriorly the darker shade predominates, while posteriorly the bluish prevails; on the anterior portions the light bars are much restricted in width, and of a more ochraceous tint. Tail plain, very pale ashy-drab, narrowly tipped with reddish-white, this changing to pale rusty on the middle pair; the concealed portion of the feathers outside the shaft show obsolete, or faint traces of, darker bars, which on the middle pair are apparently about eleven in number. On the inner webs the paler bars become broader than the darker ones, and incline to ochraceous in tint, the lateral feather being edged externally with this color. Primaries plain ashy-drab, with a hoary tinge, growing insensibly darker terminally, and with a slightly paler apical margin. Head and neck above, dark umber-brown, with conspicuous shaft-streaks of black. Lores, a broad superciliary stripe (somewhat interrupted above the eyes), white, finely and sparsely streaked, the two stripes confluent across the occiput; a broad heavy “mustache” from the lores and rictus downward and obliquely backwards, across the maxilla, and a wider postocular stripe, like the crown. Beneath continuous white, with a faint ochraceous tinge on the abdomen and crissum; abdomen and sides of the breast with a few scattered, small, ovate spots of vandyke-brown; sides transversely spotted