. British birds with their nests and eggs . - to Alaska, probably also in North Siberia. In the colours of its plumage it closely corresponds with the Snowy Owl,from its earliest youth the ground colour is white. Very old birds become almostpure white all over, with some of the feathers on the back and upper surface ofthe wings tipped with black; tail pure white. There are darker birds which havethe tail barred with black, and with more black markings on the upper parts. Inimmature birds the markings are not black but sooty brown, and are longitudinalinstead of transverse, and are tear shaped
. British birds with their nests and eggs . - to Alaska, probably also in North Siberia. In the colours of its plumage it closely corresponds with the Snowy Owl,from its earliest youth the ground colour is white. Very old birds become almostpure white all over, with some of the feathers on the back and upper surface ofthe wings tipped with black; tail pure white. There are darker birds which havethe tail barred with black, and with more black markings on the upper parts. Inimmature birds the markings are not black but sooty brown, and are longitudinalinstead of transverse, and are tear shaped on the breast, and the tail is young birds the cere, beak, and legs are horn blue; in the adults they arepale yellow; claws light horn; irides hazel. Young birds attain their fullplumage in their second year. Length of male 21 inches, of female 23 Iceland Falcon i i The Iceland Falcon. 139 Familv—FA L CONID/K. Iceland Falcon. Falco isiaiidus, GmKL. THIS is a somewhat larger and stouter bird llian the preceding species, witha shorter tail in proportion, longer wings, and larger liead ; it is also darkerin plumage. It receives its name from its being a nesting bird in Iceland ; it isalso found in South Greenland, whence it wanders to the north of Europe, and itoccurs on the eastern side of North America. Like the Greenland Falcon the Iceland Falcon has also been noted morefrequentl}^ in Scotland and its Islands than anywhere else in the kingdom. reports that, in former days, it was almost a regular winter visitor to theShetland Isles, to Unst especiall}^; and was usuall}? seen after a snow stormaccompanied by a heavy gale. Robert Gray states that between 1835 ^^<^ 1851,several specimens were shot in the counties of Ross, Sutherland, and Inverness ;and within the last four 37ears I have satisfied myself that four or
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1896
