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Show 1 16 MR. H. E. DRESSER ON FALCO LABRADORUS. [Mar. 2, conclusion as I have done. Indeed he writes (/. c.) as follows respecting the female from Fort Anderson:-'' Upon comparing this specimen with the figures of a pair of var. gyrfalco by Wolf in Newton's ** Ootheca Wolleyana,' I can discover no difference at all"-thus showing that he only needed the necessary materials to convince himself of the identity of the American and European Jer Falcons. It may be of some interest to ornithologists to know the result of some researches I have made to asertain whether the bird described by Forster under the name of F. sacer is really the Jer Falcon, more especially as Forster was the first author subsequent to 1766 to use the name sacer; and his paper bears date 1772, being 16 years prior to Gmelin's Syst. Nat., in which the true Saker Falcon is described under the name of F. sacer. Forster writes (Phil. Trans, lxii. p. 382, abridged edition p. 331) as follows : - " Speckled Partridge Hawk at Hudson's Bay. The name is derived from its feeding on the birds of the Grous tribe, commonly called Partridges, at Hudson's Bay. Its irides are yellow and the legs blue, lt comes nearest the Sacre of Brisson, Buffon, and Belon; but Buffon says it has black eyes, which is very indistinct, for the irides are black in none of the Falcons, and in few other birds; and the pupil, if he means that, is black in all birds. It is said by Belon to come from Tartary and Russia, and is therefore probably a northern bird. lt is very voracious and bold, catching Partridges out of a covey which the Europeans are driving into their nests (?nets). It breeds in April and May. Its young are ready to fly in the middle of June. Its nests, as those of all other Falcons, are built in unfrequented places ; therefore the author of the account from Severn river could not ascertain how many eggs it lays; however, the Indians told him it commonly laid two. It never migrates, and weighs 2§ pounds ; its length is 22 inches, its breadth 3 feet." From this it will be seen that it is most difficult to determine with any degree of certainty what the species is to which Forster refers. Tbe yellow iris would point to an immature Goshawk ; but that bird has not blue legs, and, doubtless, Forster would not have mistaken the Goshawk for the Saker. On the whole the probability is that the bird in question really was a Jer Falcon. The range of F. gyrfalco is, seeing that the American bird is identical with our European form, very extensive, as it is found from Scandinavia right across Asia into Arctic America, being, it would seem, replaced in Labrador by F. labradorus. The synonymy of this species I make rather different from that given by Mr. Sharpe (I. c), and consider it should be as fallows, viz. :-- FALCO GYRFALCO. Le Gerfault, Briss. Orn. i. p. 370, pl. xxx. fig 2 (1760). Falco gyrfalco, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 130 (1766). Gerfault de Norwege, D'Aubenton, Pl. Enl. pl. 462 (1770). Le Gerfaut, Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. i. p. 239, pl. xiii. (1770). 1 Falco sacer, J. Forster, Phil. Trans, lxii. p. 382 (1772). |