412 Messrs. P. L. Sclater and W. A. Forbes on the 



23. SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS. Killg-Duck. 



I did not obtain this bird in Smith Sound during the autumn 

 of 1875 ; but in the end of June 1876 scA^eral flocks of males 

 and females, numbering from ten to twenty individuals, were 

 seen near Floeberg Beach (lat. 82° 27' N.). Most of these 

 fell a prey to our gunners ; but those that escaped settled down 

 to breed along the coast, and several nests were found with 

 fresh eggs in them from the 9th to the middle of July. 



24. Bernicla brenta. Brent-Goose. 



During the first week of June, parties of these birds arrived 

 in the vicinity of our winter-quarters (lat. 82° 27' N.) ; for 

 some days they continued flying up and down the coast-line, 

 evidently looking out for places bare of snow to feed on. 

 They were very wary, and kejit well out of gun-shot range. 

 On the 21st June I found the first nest with eggs, in lat. 82° 

 33' N. ; subsequently many were found. When the young are 

 hatched the parent birds and broods congregate on the lakes or 

 in open water spaces near the shore in large flocks ; by the end 

 of July the old birds were moulting and unable to fly, so that 

 they were easily secured, and afforded most valuable change 

 of diet to our sick. The flesh of this bird is most excellent. 



The gander remains in the vicinity of the nest while the 

 goose is sitting, and accompanies the young brood. In one 

 instance where I killed a female as she left her nest the gander 

 came hissing at me. 



XXXV. — On the Nesting of the Spoonbill in Holland. 

 By P. L. Sclater and W. A. Forbes. 



That the Spoonbill {Platalea^ leucorodia) breeds in Holland 

 is a fact well known to every ornithologist ; and most egg- 

 collectors are aware that specimens of its eggs obtained in that 

 country are to be purchased at a very cheap rate in the 



* Mr. Dresser (B. Eur. pt. 2o-24) uses Pkdea as the generic uame of 

 the Spoonbill instead of Platalea. It may be hoped, however, that this 

 is a mere oversight, and that Mr. Dresser is not prepared to dissent from 

 the canon that Linnean names are to remain inviolate. 



