Avifauna of Franz Josef Land. 259 



and I saw many ducks and ducklings round the north end of 

 the tongue of land. We saw five broods with their mothers, 

 and there were many others swimming among the loose ice. 

 Altogether there must have been several hundreds. This was 

 really the only locality for the species found by the expedition 

 in Franz Josef Land, for only two had been seen and secured 

 at Cape Gertrude before my arrival. — W. S. B.] 



8. *Strepsilas interpres (Linn.). 



Dr. Koettlitz, of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, 

 informs us that on the 27th of May, 1896, he saw a Turn- 

 stone at Cape Flora — the only one that he observed in Franz 

 Josef Land. This bird is an addition to the avifauna of the 

 archipelago, to which it is probably a mere straggler, for it is 

 a scarce bird in Novaya Zemlya. 



[?] Gallinago sp. inc. 



Neale, P. Z. S. 1882, p. 654. 



I have little doubt that the supposed Snipe seen by the 

 old whaling hands of Mr. Leigh Smith's second expedition 

 to Franz Josef Land, as mentioned by Dr. Neale, was 

 really the Purple Sandpiper — a bird which I know from 

 experience is called by whalers a " Snipe." 



It is almost needless to remark that no species of Gallinago 

 is at all likely to occur in Franz Josef Land, or elsewhere 

 in the high north ; and a Snipe has never been seen either 

 on Spitsbergen or Novaya Zemlya. 



9. *Tringa fuscicollis Vieill. 

 (Bull. B. O. C. no. li. p. xxxvi.) 



Mr. Bruce's collection contains a skin of a female 

 Bonaparte's Sandpiper, which was shot on the margin of 

 the pond near the beach at Cape Flora, on the 28th of June, 

 1897, by Mr. "Wilton. The bird was alone, and no other 

 example was observed. 



This bird is not only a new and remarkable addition to 

 the ornis of Franz Josef Land, but it is the first authentic 

 example of this American species that has been obtained in 

 Europe elsewhere than the British Isles, for the Icelandic 

 record is not to be regarded as satisfactory. 



