The Mammalia and Birds of Franz Josef Land. 93 



The specific identity of the Falcon that from time to time 

 visits Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya ^ has not been satis- 

 factorily determined, but the whiteness of the specimens 

 generally alluded to makes it probable that the Greenland 

 bird is the one that wanders most frequently to these Arctic 

 islands, inqluding, it appears, Franz Josef Land. 



6. *Bernicla brenta (Pallas). 



Neale, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1882, p^). 653, 654; ?reildeD, t. c, p. 209; 

 Markham, Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc, v. pp. 210, 216; ?N'aiisen, o^?. ciL, 

 ii. pp. 335, 435, 436. 



The Brent appears to be the only species of Goose found 

 in the region, and is no doubt the species alluded to under 

 the name of " Goose " or " Geese " in the writings of Colonel 

 Feilden and Dr Nansen. The former records that traces 

 of a Goose were observed by the members of Mr Leigh 

 Smith's first "Eira" Expedition; and Dr ISTeale says that 

 during the second expedition made in that vessel, Brent Geese, 

 along with Eain-Geese [Eed- throated Divers], were seen and 

 shot on the cliffs, 700 feet above sea-level. He also states 

 that a great many Brents came to the low land, near the 

 pond, at Cape Flora, but that no signs of a nest could be 

 found anywhere. 



Dr Nansen found traces of Geese, and a Goose's egg-shell, 

 on Mary Elizabeth Island, on the 1st of June 1896. He 

 also saw two Geese at Cape Fisher two days afterwards. 

 All these localities are in the southern portion of the archi- 

 pelago. 



These birds emigrated from Cape Flora about the 22nd 

 of September 1881. Sir Clements Markham, quoting from 

 Mr Leigh Smith's Journal, mentions that Brent Geese began 

 to arrive at Cape Flora in June 1882, but that a Goose or 

 Duck was seen on the 12th of March of that year. 



[Mr Wilton saw the first Brent Geese on the 10th of June 

 1897, and shot one of the two seen. I also saw a pair on 



^ Heuglin, in The Ibis, 1872, p. 61, considered the bird observed by him 

 in Novaya Zemlya to be F. gyrfaleo; but in his " Reisen nach dem Nord- 

 polarmeer" (1874), iii. p. 83, he treats of the Novaya Zemlya records under 

 "i^aZco sp.?" 



