| OCR Text |
Show 1873.] MR. R. B. SHARPE ON FALCO ARCTICUS. 415 fore, can hope to say positively what Holboll's Falco arcticus really was; but there is little doubt that the occurrence of a form of Iceland Falcon in Greenland led him to see two species, though it bears some resemblance to the true F. candicans when it is very old. Should ornithologists agree with me, that the bird hitherto known as Falco islandus, from Greenland, is really the origin of Holboll's F. arcticus, I propose to call it after that unfortunate gentleman, as his title has already been preoccupied by Gmelin, who conferred it on the Falcon d'Lslande of Brisson (Orn. i. p. 336). This bird, said to be from Iceland, has never been satisfactorily identified, but is described as being like the Peregrine, with a yellow eye. I am by no means the first to recognize the distinctness of this fourth Jer Falcon; for Messrs. Salvin and Brodrick have already drawn attention to it, calling it the "light variety" of the Iceland Falcon ; while Professor Schlegel has, most justly in m y opinion, considered it as distinct from the true Iceland Jer Falcon as is the Jer Falcon of Norway (Falco gyrfalco). The following will, I believe, be found to be the correct synonymy of the species: - FALCO HOLBOSLLI, sp. n. Falco arcticus (nee Gm.), Holboll, Zeitschr. f. d. ges. Naturw. iii. p. 426 (1854); Blasius, Naumannia (1857), p. 238; id. Nactr. Naum. Vog. Deutschl. p. 19 (1860, nee Taf. 390. fig. 2)*. Iceland Falcon (light variety), Salvin &Brodr. Falconry, p. 87, pl.x. (1855). Falco gyrfalco grcenlandicus, Schl. Mus. P.-B. Falc. p. 13 (1862). Adult male. Head white, with blackish shaft-stripes, a little broader on the nape; rest of the upper surface greyish brown, with more or less of a bluish shade according to the light, transversely banded and tipped with white ; quills brown, edged and tipped with white, and freckled on the outer webs; on the smaller secondaries are indistinct bands of brown, alternating with bars of greyish white, the latter plentifully freckled with brown ; tail ashy grey, tipped with white, freckled plentifully with brown, and showing cross bars on the outer feathers ; under surface white, the throat and chest entirely unspotted, the rest of the body sparingly spotted with blackish, taking the form of bars on the flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts; under wing-coverts white, spotted with black ; inner face of wing whitish, barred with blackish ; cere, orbits, and feet yellow ; bill bluish, yellow at base of lower mandible ; iris dark. Total length 19 inches, culmen 1*3, wing 14, tail 7*5, tarsus 2*1. Adult female. Similar to the male, but larger. Total length 20 inches, culmen 1*4, wing 15*2, tail 5*5, tarsus 2*2. / Hab. Greenland. Falco holbcelli is distinguished from F. islandus by its smaller size, by the larger white spots and bars on the upper surface, which * As Professor Elasius, in quoting Holboll as the describer of this species designates the bird he wishes to be recognized as F. arcticus, I have referred his notices to this Falcon ; but he evidently mixes up F. candicans, F. islandus, and F. holboslli together: witness his references to the plates in ' Naumannia.' |
