256 Mr. Wm. Eagle Clarke on the 



attractive to the bird, and to induce it to become a summer 

 visitor. Indeed, we can only regard Mr. Jackson's specimens 

 as mere stragglers from Novaya Zemlya, where the species 

 is uncommon during the nesting-season. It is quite unknown 

 to Spitsbergen. 



3. ^Otocorys ALPESTKis (Linn.). 



A female Shore-Lark, in immature plumage, in Mr. Bruce's 

 collection was shot by Mr. Armitage on the 9th of June, 

 1897, near Elmwood, the station at Cape Flora. 



This species is new to the avifauna of Franz Josef Land, 

 which is, moreover, the most northerly region in which the 

 bird has yet been observed. It is quite unknown in Spits- 

 bergen, but is not an uncommon summer visitor to Novaya 

 Zemlya. Whether this bird is more than a straggler to 

 Franz Josef Land remains to be ascertained, but the proba- 

 bility is that it is a mere casual in that inhospitable region. 



4. *Nyctea scandiaca (Linn.). 

 Strix nivea Payer, op. cit. ii. p. 9L 



Nyctea scandiaca Neale, P. Z. S. 1882, pp. 653, 654. 



The collection contains an adult female Snowy Owl, which 

 was caught by Mr. Wilton near Cape Flora on the 26th of 

 August, 1896. 



This species appears to be not uncommon about Cape 

 Flora, but whether it is a straggler to Franz Josef Land — 

 where Lemmings and Ptarmigan appear to be unknown — or 

 a summer visitor, is at present a matter of conjecture : 

 Mr. Bruce inclines to the latter belief. 



Dr. Neale remarks that it was the first bird to arrive at 

 Cape Flora in the spring of 1882, a Snowy Owl having 

 appeared there on the 8th of February, and again on the 

 16th and 19th of that month. 



[The Owl captured by Mr. Wilton must have been ailing, 

 for, as a rule, one cannot get within rifle-shot of these birds. 

 They were frequently seen at Cape Flora in the summer and 

 autumn of 1896, and they preyed upon young birds, chiefly 

 the young Looms. The first for 1897 was seen by Mr. Hey- 

 ward on the 29th of May, and Mr. Wilton saw one on the 

 following day. 



