588 Mr. A. Trevor-Battye on the 



I cannot attempt to explain the distribution of the Ptar- 

 migan on Spitsbergen. Sir Martin Conway's party, when 

 they crossed from Advent Bay to Stor Fjord and again on 

 the return journey by way of Sassendal, saw little of this 

 bird. At the same time there are undoubtedly places in 

 Spitsbergen where those birds are, after the breeding-season, 

 more numerous, as the following quotation from Norden- 

 skiold's narrative goes to show (Voy. 'Vega,' i. p. 130) : — 

 " On Spitsbergen the bird had only been found before 1873 

 in single specimens, but in that year, to our glad surprise, 

 we discovered an actual Ptarmigan-fell in the neighbourhood 

 of our winter colony, immediately north of the 80th degree 

 of latitude. It formed the haunt of probably a thousand 

 birds." Nordenskiold makes, however, no claim to be 

 regarded as an ornithologist, as various inaccuracies in his 

 description show. And the remark which follows — " They 

 probably breed under stones in summer," — cannot be 

 accepted without proof. I at any rate found several old 

 nests and one of the year with broken shells, placed in the 

 open in the ordinary Lagopode manner. 



-)-12. iEoTALiTEs HiATicuLA (Linn.). Einged Plover. 



Only three specimens of the Ringed Plover had apparently 

 been obtained upon Spitsbergen before my visit, and to 

 these I am able to add a fourth. Perhaps I may be allowed 

 here to quote from Prof. Newton's paper (Ibis, 1865, p. 504) 

 on the former : — '^ Sir James Ross states that a bird of this 

 species was killed by Mr. M'Cormick in Hecla Cove ; and 

 it may be inferred from what he says that General Sabine also 

 obtained a specimen in Spitsbergen. Dr. Malmgren mentions 

 that Professors Torell and Nordenskiold found on one of the 

 Seven Islands in lat. 80° 45' N. a brood of Ringed Plovers, 

 which had probably been bred on one of these, the most 

 northern islets of the known world. An old bird was killed 

 from it and is now in the Stockholm Museum." Prof. 

 Newton adds that it was not observed by any of his party, 

 nor had been seen the year before by the Swedish Expedition. 



Mr. Eaton remarks (Zool. 1874, p. 3809) that " Lieut. 



