580 Mr. A. Trevor-Battye on the 



Spitsbergen ; but I never succeeded in all my wanderings in 

 finding a spot where castings were lying in any great quantity, 

 nor any that seemed more than two or three seasons old. In 

 this respect the vantage-points strikingly differed from those 

 I have examined either in Northern Canada or in Kolguev. 

 From the above it is, I think, a fair inference that in Spits- 

 bergen the Snowy Owl is only — and very — sporadic *. 



4. Falco, sp, 



I regret to say that I am personally unable to contribute 

 any evidence as to the existence of a Spitsbergen Falcon, 

 although the testimony of former writers points to a con- 

 sensus of conviction in favour of the bird. Malmgren, 

 indeed, went so far as to assert that the bird he saw was 

 neither Falco candicans nor F. islandus, but F. gyrfalco. 

 Von Heuglin has nothing to say at first-hand, but was 

 assured by a Norwegian skipper that a Falcon was frequently 

 observed by him in Ice Fjord in the summer of 1870. But 

 perhaps the most expert, as well as the most positive, testi- 

 mony is that of Mr. Abel Chapman and Mr. A. H. Cocks. 

 The former observed " a large long- winged Falcon " soaring 

 high over the water at Van Keulen Bay on July 30. At 

 Recherche Bay Mr. Chapman says they " had a good view 

 of a Gyrfahjon, which species I cannot say positively, but it 

 looked white enough for F. candicans." And in the same 

 account, " a Falcon was seen by Arnesen and some of the 

 men when we were at the Swedish Meteorological Station at 

 Cape Thordsen on Sept. 12th, stooping at one of the tame 

 Pigeons brought out by the expedition [i. e. the Swedish 

 Expedition under Nordenskiold] . They succeeded in saving 

 the Pigeon by shouting and waving their arms." 



5. Anser brack yrhynchus (Baill.). Pink-footed Goose. 



The Pink-footed Goose is distributed thinly, but generally, 

 over a great part, at any rate, of Spitsbergen. Its breeding- 

 habits do not differ, so far as my observation goes, from 

 those of A. erythrojjus or A. segetum. Like these birds, it 

 seldom, on the mainland, nests by the sea, but retires inland, 



* [Mr. Arnold Pike records its occurrence on five occasions. See his 

 diary, in Chapman's ' Wild Norway,' pp. 343-350.— Edd.] 



