Note 2 — Front matter

Although the name gyrfalco—the gyrating or circling falcon—is now appropriated by most ornithologists to the Norway birds, all the foregoing were included by the old falconers under the name ger, gyr, or jer. They are all so styled, and very properly, by modern usage. They are indeed little, if anything, more than climatic varieties of the same bird, and although it has not been ascertained beyond a doubt that they interbreed, this is highly probable. The lightest variety of each one species is almost, if not quite, undistinguishable from the darkest of the next; and the character of all is similar enough to admit of their being trained and treated in the same way. From the falconer’s point of view, there will certainly be less difference between one Iceland falcon and one of either of the two nearest allied species than there may be between two individual specimens of F. islandus. They will all therefore be dealt with in the remaining chapters under the same general name of gers, unless when any special consideration involves a more specific indication.