96 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society, 



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 camitus. To this conclusion it is difficult, if not 

 impossible, to assent, for reasons to be stated. I have 

 little doubt that the bird observed by the explorers was 

 the Purple Sandpiper — one of the commonest and most 

 generally distributed species to be found on the shores of 

 the Polar Sea, though one that had not then 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 Novaya Zemlya, 

 or other Arctic isles lying to the north of the Continent of 

 Europe, with the exception of a solitary occurrence in Spitz- 

 bergen. Thus it is highly improbable 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 archipelago requires confirmation. 



10. *Tringa striata, Linn. 



The Purple Sandpiper is represented in the collection by 

 two young birds, as well as by 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. 



It is somewhat surprising that this bird, which is one 

 of the commonest, most widely-distributed, and well-known 

 species inhabiting the Northern Eegions, should have 

 hitherto remained unnoticed in Franz Josef Land, to whose 

 fauna it is now added for the first time. 



I am strongly of opinion, however, that this bird is the 

 " Iceland Knot " of Payer {op. cit., ii. p. 91) ; the " Brown 

 Snipe " of the first " Eira " Expedition (Feilden, t. c, p. 210) ; 

 and the "Gallinago sp. inc." of Dr ISTeale's account (Proc. 

 Zool. Soc, 1882, p. 654) of the birds of the second "Eira" 

 Expedition. It is not necessary to say more here in this 



