Tnternalionol Fisheries Exhibition. 347 



throughout the entire winter. Of the latter there are two 

 examples, the one being a male obtained on 13th May 1879, 

 still in winter plumage, except about the neck, where 

 the ruddy-brown feathers are appearing, and catalogued 

 as Lagopus subalpinus, Nilsson, = L. albus (Gm.), i.e. the 

 Willow-Ptarmigan; and the other a female, without special 

 date or locality, named L. alpinus, Nilss. The latter I should 

 be inclined to refer to the form L. rupestris, obtained by 

 Mr. Seebohm, in 71|° N., on the Yenesei, which ranges from 

 Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland, right across the 

 northern portions of America and Arctic Siberia, probably 

 to the Ural range or the vicinity. Speaking of Ptarmigan 

 it may be mentioned that there is, in the same show-case, a 

 bird which has an amusing history, exemplifying the old 

 proverb of '' the biter bit.^^ The specimen in question is an 

 immature Ivory Gull [Pagophila eburnea), which was offered 

 by the Chukches as a Ptarmigan ; and when Nordenskibld with 

 delight purchased the bird, a self-satisfied smile passed over 

 the countenance of the seller, who was evidently proud of 

 his successful trick. The last week in April the return of 

 the birds after their winter absence commenced at Pitlekaj, 

 and most of the specimens in the collection were obtained be- 

 tween that date and the liberation of the ' Vega' on the 18th 

 July 1879. It may be as well to notice the more interesting 

 of the exhibited specimens in the order in which they are 

 set down in the special Catalogue of the Swedish Section. 



The King Eider Duck, Somateria spectabilis, represented by 

 a fine pair of birds, is a well-known circumpolar species, 

 which, in the northern latitudes, replaces the Common 

 Eider, S. mollissima, a species not observed on the coasts of 

 Eastern Siberia. It may be mentioned, incidentally, that 

 the King Eider, which had only been known to reach Alaska, 

 has recently been recorded by Mr. Henshaw from San Fran- 

 cisco (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1880, p. 189). Next in order 

 comes the Pacific Eider, Somateria v-nigrum, recognizable by 

 the V-shaped mark under the chin, to which it owes its name ; 

 and its range is now shown to extend for some distance 

 beyond American waters. A pair of the rare Spectacled Eider, 



SER. V. VOL. I. 2 B 



