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Show 114 MR. H. E. DRESSER ON FALCO LABRADORUS. [Mar. 2, discernible. They are in length 1*1 inch, and *81 in breadtb, of light rich cream-colour when fresh, fading to almost white after being emptied, clouded with fleecy marks of pale slaty grey or bluish grey appearing beneath the surface of the shell; they are of an oval form, and two in number. They are placed on the bare ground, in a similar situation to that chosen by the Eurostopodi, usually on a strong ridge. . 2. Notes on Falco labradorus, Audv Falco sacer, Forster, and Falco spadiceus, Forster. By H. E. D R E S S E R, F.Z.S. &c. [Received February 5, 1875.] Amongst some Jer Falcons, below referred to, sent to me for examination by Professor Spencer F. Baird, was one of the Black or Labrador Jer Falcon, which, although not in the darkest stage of plumage, at once struck me as being a very good species, totally distinct from any other form of the Jer or Iceland Falcons. When in Brunswick in the autumn of 1873 I had the opportunity of examining a magnificent series of these Labrador Jer Falcons in the museum of that city, and was then fully confirmed in m y opinion that they belonged to a totally distinct species. I tried to obtain one of these birds, but was unsuccessful, and have since then been using every endeavour to secure a specimen for m y collection. Fortunately my exertions have at last been crowned with success, and I am»now enabled to exhibit three examples of this rare Falcon just received from Labrador. Mr. Sharpe, in his recently published Catalogue of Accipitres, refers this Labrador Jer Falcon to the true Falco gyrfalco, L.; but this is evidently an error, which has doubtless arisen from the want of specimens for examination. A glance at the birds I now exhibit, together with my series of specimens of F. gyrfalco from Scandinavia, will at once show how very distinct these two forms are. As will be seen, m y three specimens are in different stages of plumage- one being dull dark sooty brown, streaked on the head with white, and marked and spotted on the underparts with buffy white, the chin being white streaked with sooty brown, and tbe upper parts of the body having lighter margins to the dark feathers. Tail dark sooty brown, the central feathers unmarked,.and the outer rectrices barred on the inner web with pale yellowish white. The second specimen resembles the first, but is much darker and less marked with buffy white; but the third is very dark, the upper surface of the body being uniform sooty blackish brown, with a slaty grey shade on the rump ; the head nearly black ; tail uniform blackish brown, with a few dull buff spots at the extreme tip ; underparts like the back, but very sparingly marked with buffy ochreous streaks ; the edge of the wings similarly marked; under tail-coverts blackish brown, spotted with light ochreous buff. According to Mr. Ridgway (N. A m . Birds, iii. p. 117) the dark birds are the adult, and the lighter birds tbe immature ; and I must |