260 Mr. Wm. Eagle Clarke on the 



The occurrence of this Sandpiper in Franz Josef Land, so 

 far away from its accustomed haunts, is very remarkable ; but 

 almost equally remarkable is the fact that it should find its 

 way there in the breeding-season. It has only visited the 

 British shores during the migratory period in the autumn, 

 and its occurrence in Franz Josef Land in summer admits 

 of no satisfactory explanation. 



[?] Tringa canutus Linn. 



Payer, op. cit. ii. p. 91 ; Feilden, t. c. p. 210. 



Lieut. Payer mentions the '' Iceland Knot " as one of the 

 birds observed by the Austro-Hungarian Expedition, but 

 whether in Barents Sea or on the shores of Franz Josef 

 Land is uncertain. Colonel Feilden, however, includes the 

 Knot among the birds observed during Mr. Leigh Smith's 

 first ' Eira ' Expedition, opining that the " Brown Snipe," 

 reported to him as one of the birds seen, was probably 

 Tringa canutus. To this conclusion it is difficult, if not im- 

 possible, to assent, for reasons to be stated. I have little doubt 

 that the bird observed by the explorers was the Purple Sand- 

 piper — one of the commonest and most generally distributed 

 species to be found on the shores of the Polar Sea, though 

 one that had not, until now, been identified in this region. 



On the other hand, the Knot is quite unknown, even 

 as a bird of passage, nay even as a wanderer, to Spits- 

 bergen, Novaya Zemlya, or other Arctic isles lying to the 

 north of the Continent of Europe. Thus it is highly im- 

 probable that the Knot should find its way to Franz Josef 

 Land, and there can be no hesitation in regarding it 

 as one of those species the presence of which in the archi- 

 pelago requires confirmation. 



10. ^Tringa striata Linn. 



The Purple Sandpiper is represented in the collection by 

 two young birds, as well as two eggs, all of which were 

 procured in the immediate neighbourhood of Elmwood 

 (Cape Flora), where, Mr. Bruce informs me, this bird was 

 quite common as a nesting species in the summer of 1897. 



