The Zoologist— May, 1866. 199 



the development of the antleivs in the rein-deer of the mmivrtisen terres 

 in North America affect in like manner those of tlieir Spitsbergen 

 brethren. Tliese last are said, by persons who have wintered there, 

 not to migrate from the country; at least they or their tracks on tlie 

 snow are seen " as soon as it begins to get light" in spring. At the 

 same time it is just possible that some of them may wander over the 

 frozen sea by way of Giles Land — and other islands, perhaps, of which 

 we have as yet no knowledge — to Nova Zen)bla, and so on to the 

 country of the Samoides. Certainly a hind killed by my friend Mr. 

 Graham Manners-Sutton had one ear slit in a manner that was recog- 

 nized by some of the " Senimoline's" crew (most of them Qutens) as a 

 mark of ownership. I must, however, add that, adverse as I am to 

 doubt the technical knowledge of an expert, the slit in question 

 seemed to me as if it might have been very well caused by another 

 deer in fighting, or, even if it were of human origin, such as might 

 have been made by some one who had caught the animal when a calf, 

 and let it go again ; but this last solution of the difficulty excited a 

 laugh at my sinijilicity among the Quaens, who could not conceive it 

 possible that a hungry hunter should show compassion towards the 

 very youngest deer. All that we saw the first week of our being in 

 the country still retained a considerable quantity of their nearly white 

 winter clothing, thus rendering their detection, when viewed against 

 the dark-coloured ground, a very easy matter, even at a great distance. 

 These animals also were in poor condition, contrasting in this respect 

 strongly with those killed about a month later, when their bodies on 

 being flayed were found to be Covered with fat nearly two inches thick. 

 At this time they had entirely got rid of their overcoats, and were 

 clothed entirely in a short but close felt of dark mouse-colour. Judging 

 from the gralloch, in the summer, lichens seem to form only a small 

 article in their diet, their food then consisting chiefly of mosses, grasses, 

 and any other herbage. 



The arctic fex (Cants lagopus) is pretty numerous along the shores 

 of Ice Sound ; and we not only frequently saw examples of it, but in 

 the immediate neighbourhood of the cliffs wherein the Alcida; were 

 nesting^one could, by listening almost at any time in the twenty-four 

 hours, hear its yapping bark. It is of course the chief enemy of all 

 the different kinds of birds, and their dread of it appears to influence 

 them greatly in their choice of breeding-quarters. What the foxes do 

 to get a living in winter, when the birds have left the country — for I 

 imagine that the ptarmigan {Lagopus hemileucurus) is the only species 



