76 Zoological Society : — 



a group of birds as the Tetraonidoi must be regarded with especial 

 interest ; and hence I have great pleasure in exhibiting to the meet- 

 ing a skin, imperfect though it be, of what I believe to be a new 

 species of this family. I may remark that, while many specific 

 names have been given to some species of this group, others ap})ear 

 to have been passed over imnoticed, of which latter the Inrd now 

 before us is an instance in point, for I believe that it has not as yet 

 received a specific appellation. It is to be regretted that the speci- 

 men is not in a better state of preservation ; it furnishes, however, 

 sufficient materials for a good description. Its native habitat is 

 Spitzbergen, where I believe it is plentiful. It was brought to this 

 country by Edward Evans, Esq., of Neath, who shot it during a visit 

 to that part of the world in the summer of 1856; the specimen, 

 which is a female, is of course in its summer plumage, as at no other 

 season are these high northern lands visited by travellers. In 

 size it considerably exceeds our Common Ptarmigan, from which it 

 differs very remarkably in the colouring of the tail, — the basal half 

 of nearly all the feathers being white, and the apical half black, nar- 

 rowly fringed with white at the extreme tips. As is the case with 

 all other Ptarmigans in their summer plumage, the primaries are 

 white ; in this species most of the secondaries and the wing-coverts 

 are also white ; the remainder of the plumage is rayed with black 

 and ochreous yellow, the black predominating on the tipper surface, 

 while the feathers of the flanks are beautifully and equally barred 

 with these two colours; the feet are white, the nails jet-black, and 

 the bill brown. The total length of the bird is about IG inches, of 

 its wing 8| inches, tail 5|, tarsi If. I propose to call this species 

 Lagopus hemileucurus. 



With much kindness Mr. Evans sent me the only skin he pro- 

 cured, accompanied by permission to describe and make any other 

 use of it I pleased, and the following note respecting it : — 



" The skin sent is the only one I have from Spitzbergen, though 

 I shot many. The bird was so plentiful, that, thinking I could 

 always procure specimens, I neglected to preserve any at the time, 

 and was obliged to come away at last with only this one. The hen 

 birds had all assumed their summer plumage ; but the males had 

 not changed a feather, though the old ones, which had become very 

 ragged and dirty, would almost fall off on being touched. I started 

 one hen from her nest, or rather from the little dry hollow where 

 she had collected a few stems of grass, and found two eggs ; these 

 were all we met with ; the nest was placed in the high fields where 

 in the dry parts scarcely any vegetation is to be seen, while the 

 swampy portions where the snow had melted were covered with 

 coarse grass and the dwarf willow, which is the only thing approach- 

 ing to a shrub on these barren treeless islands. The specimen sent 

 was shot on tlie 27th of June, on the south shore of la Sound, in 

 about 77i° N. lat. 



" The neighbouring country consisted of a belt of swampy grovmd 

 covered with rank grass, with high, rugged and barren mountains 

 rising behind, covered with snow, except on their sharp ridges and 



