Letters, Extracts, Notes, ^-c. 201 



A careful perusal of Mr. Fiala's recently published history 

 of the Ziegler-Fiala Expedition (' Fighting the Polar Ice ') 

 proves that the Ptarmigan occurs in other islands of the 

 Franz- Josef Archipelago besides Ziegler Island, which is one 

 of the most southern of the group. The main point of 

 interest, however, is that it is found even in Rudolf Island, 

 the farthest nortii island of the whole Archipelago (81° 40' 

 N. L.), where some of the members of the expedition 

 feasted on a '' Ptarmigan fricassee " on Thanksgiving Day 

 (Nov. 24th). "Four of these birds had been shot at camp 

 during the previous summer and saved for this special 

 occasion " {op. cit. p. 154). It is evident that the Ptarmigan 

 must have crossed over the whole of the Franz- Josef Archi- 

 pelago on their route from Spitsbergen to Rudolf Island. 



A new Bird for Egypt. — We receive frequent letters from 

 Mr. M. J. Nicoll, o£ the Gizeh Zoological Gardens. lie 

 is still engaged in adding to his collection of birds, when he 

 can find time. The most recent novelty obtained is a 

 specimen of the Saxicola melanura of Riippell, which, though 

 well known in Abyssinia and Southern Arabia, has not 

 previously been recorded from Egypt. A good figure of 

 the species has already appeared in this journal (see ' Ibis,' 

 1896, pi. i. fig. 2, p. 13), but whether the representative form 

 found in Palestine (*S^. yerhurii Sharpe), which is figured on 

 the same plate, is distinct, we are a little doubtful. It may, 

 perhaps, be maintained as a " subspecies." 



Rare Birds observed at Fair Isle. — In the number of the 

 ' Annals of Scottish Natural History ' for October last 

 (p. 246) Mr. Eagle Clarke gives the following account of 

 his recent visit to Fair Isle : — "I have just returned from a 

 five weeks' residence on Fair Isle, where, in the course of my 

 investigations, I witnessed the passage-movements of no less 

 than 82 species of migratory birds. Among the species 

 observed were several of special interest (some of them being 

 new to Scotland), and these I propose to mention in this 



SER. IX. VOL. II. p 



