166 SOMATERIA MOLLISSIMA.——S. V-NIGRUM. 
[§ 56538. Zwo.—Safe Haven, Ice Sound, Western Spitsbergen, 
LO July 1864 a 
Taken by myself, as above, from a little rocky islet off the east point of the 
entrance to Safe Maven, to which Mr. Graham Manners-Sutton, Ludwig, and 
I went one afternoon. A great many Hiders flew off, and we found some forty 
nests. These eggs are from the first I came to, and the old bird was sitting on 
it—so far as I could see she was an undoubted S. mollissima, and not spectabilis. 
Most of the nests had only one egg in them, and none more than three. We 
had seen the men of the Swedish Expedition at the islet the day before, and 
of course they had taken all they could find. In all we got between sixty and 
seventy, the greater part of which we gave to the yacht’s crew to eat. Later 
in the evening some of our men went to the islet, and found that more than a 
dozen eggs had been laid since our visit, and again about midnight Ludwig 
returned and took several more. The Arctic Gulls (Stercorarius parasiticus) 
were very bold while we were there, robbing two nests within a few yards of 
us, and one bird was not deterred by Mr. Manners-Sutton’s pelting him with 
stones. Subsequently our men often helped themselves to eggs at this rock, 
and we used to call it the “ Eiderstone.” Dr. Malmgren (Journ. fiir Orn, 1865, 
p- 396) has separated the Eider-Duck of Spitsbergen as Somateria thulensis ; 
but I fail'to see the justification of such an act. | 
[§ 5654. Hive—Walrus Island, East Greenland (1870?). 
From the Second German North-Polar Expedition, 
through Dr. Otto Finsch, 1871. 
In the zoological report on this voyage Dr. Pansch states (Zweite deutsch. 
Nordpolarfahrt, ii. pp. 214, 215) that he only visited one breeding-place of this 
species in the Pendulum group of islands, that was on Walrus Island, where, 
on the 14th of June, he counted up to forty nests. He was there again on the 
21st, and found them in deep snow, but the eggs were for the most part so 
little brooded that they collected a fine stock of them for consumption. | 
* 
SOMATERIA V-NIGRUM, G. R. Gray. 
[§ 5655. Zwo.—Island east of Anderson River, 6 July, 1863, 
From the Smithsonian Institution, through Professor 
Baird. 
The accompanying ticket also has “ Female parent shot (No. 86287) near 
nest. R. R. MacFarlane.” 
