Mr. G. Gillett on the Birds of Novaya Zemlya. 305 



off. He was soon joined by the female, which came from the 

 ravine, where she doubtless had her nest. They soared in wide 

 circles high above me, but would not come within shot, and it 

 was impossible to get nearer to the nest. From the shoi't 

 glimpse I got of the male's dark blue back and the reddish 

 tinge which I fancied I could detect on his breast, I conjec- 

 tured that these birds were Peregrine Falcons : but I am by no 

 means confident on the point ; and the suggestion which has 

 since been made to me, that they were Gyr-Falcons, is very 

 possibly true. 



j~ 3. Nyctea nivea (Daud.). Snowy Owl. 



Very common all along the coast. 1 never saw this bird 

 attempt to feed on blubber or carrion, indeed I never saw it on 

 the ice at all ; but it is possible that, in the winter, or when 

 pressed by hunger, it may occasionally pick up offal, as Admiral 

 von Wrangell has asserted *. My impression is that it lives a 

 good deal on young sea-fowl and Arctic Foxes. Lemmings f 

 no doubt are its favourite food ; but I saw no traces of any 

 great quantity of them in Novaya Zemlya, nor did I see a 

 single live one. In some places, however, there were their 

 burrows and a few dried remains. I shot three Snowy Owls in 

 various localities. They were all remarkably fat, having a thick 

 hard layer under the skin, answering to the blubber of a Seal. 

 Their stomachs were empty. 



* ' Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea,' &c. (Sabine's trans- 

 lation) Loudon : 1840, p. cxxiii ; 2nd ed. 1844, p. 490. 



t As an instance of its fondness for Lemmings, and showing how it 

 follows these curious little animals in their migrations, I may mention that 

 in the part of Norway where I was staying in 1868, there was a perfect 

 plague of Lemmings — in the valley, in the forest, on the fj eld, they were 

 squeaking and running about by thousands ; during the autumn they 

 travelled down to the fjord, and were drowned, as usually happens. A 

 few stragglers remained till the spring of 1869 ; but eventually all disap- 

 peared. In the summer of that year more than a dozen young Snowy 

 Owls were taken from different nests in the neighbourhood, and several 

 Arctic Foxes were shot, both of which animals must have followed 

 the army of Lemmings, and staid to breed in the district. I saw 

 one Arctic Fox alive, which had been caught in the streets of 

 Thi'ondhjem. 



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