BIKDS OF GREENLAND. 1 449 



56. The Great Auk. Nearly extinct; but even formerly 

 only seemed to visit Greenland in the winter, and in limited 

 numbers, chiefly young birds. 



57. Fratercula glacialis, Leach. 



58. Fratercula cirrata, Pall. Only one specimen on 

 record, 



59. Manx's Shearwater. 



60. The Common Skua. 



61. Larus chaleopterus } Licht. Probably nothing more 

 than a variety of the Iceland gull. 



62. The Herring Gull. Quite accidental, and an ex- 

 tremely rare bird in Greenland. 



63. Larus affinis, Rhdt. New species ; unique. Ap- 

 pears to be closely allied to the herring gull. 



64. Rhodostethia rosea, Macgill. 



65. The Gannet. Accidental and rare. 



66. Pagopliila brachytarsa, Holb. A new gull discovered 

 by Holboll, of which, unfortunately, no collection seems to 

 possess an authentic or type specimen. 



As might be expected from its geographical position, 

 the North American types preponderate in the avi fauna 

 of Greenland. When, from the 118 species hitherto 

 observed there, we deduct 63 which occur throughout the 

 whole Polar zone, and accordingly must be considered 

 not to bear on this question (at least, as far as they are con- 

 stantly resident in Greenland), of the remaining 53, there 

 are 35 North American species, 19 European, and a single 

 one (the ptarmigan) possibly peculiar to Greenland. A still 

 more marked North American feature of the fauna results 

 from an observation of HolbolFs, that Greenland receives 

 only four of its regular birds of passage from Europe (the 

 peregrine, the wheatear, the whimbrel, and the wild swan) ; 

 and should even this number prove to be too small, and 

 some others for instance, the common snipe and the white- 

 fronted goose be added, there will still be a great prepon- 

 derance of such birds migrating to Greenland from North 

 America. But, on the other hand, Greenland is marked as 



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