Letters, Notes and Extracts. 509 
The Ptarmigan of Franz-Josef’s Land. 
The pair of Ptarmigan collected by the Expedition on 
Alger Island, Franz-Josef Land, in June 1904, belong to a 
little-known species of considerable rarity in collections. 
This is the Spitsbergen or Hyperborean Ptarmigan, 
Lagopus hyperboreus, a very near relative of two well- 
known species—the Alpine Ptarmigan (L. mutus) of the 
mountains of Europe, and the Rock-Ptarmigan (L. rupes- 
tris) of the Arctic Regions of both hemispheres, From 
both these species it differs in its larger size and in the 
presence of a greater amount of white on the tail-feathers, 
though in the latter respect there is considerable individual 
variation. 
The Spitsbergen Ptarmigan was first described by Sundevall 
in 1838, and it is represented by a coloured plate in Elliot's 
“Monograph of the Tetraonide.’ 
It has not before been recorded outside of Spitsbergen ; 
and from the fact that no Ptarmigan had previously been 
observed on Franz-Josef Land, it seems likely that the 
birds found there in 1904 had been blown over from 
Spitsbergen, 
‘The present pair of birds is an excellent illustration of the 
fact already recorded, that the male of this species retains 
the white winter-plumage considerably later in the spring 
than does the female. The male is wholly pure white, while 
the female, although taken at the same time, is in the brown 
plumage of summer. 
The Museum expresses its gratitude for the opportunity 
of adding to its collection this heretofore unrepresented 
BUC eseS: W. Der W. Mitter, 
Assist. Ornithologist, 
American Museum of Natural History. 
Messieurs,—Dans le Musée fondé a Zi-ka-wei, prés 
Chang-Hai, par mon prédécesseur, le Pere Heude, S8.J., j'ai 
trouvé quelques oiseaux, dignes, me semble-t-il, d’étre 
mentionnés. 
Pitta nympha.—Un spécimen tué a Zi-ka-wei le 17 Mai, 
