3808 The Zoologist— January, 1874, 



catch him with my ring-net. But though he was prepared to 

 submit to be stoned, and would probably have held out his neck 

 for an indefinite length of time, to be netted alive with a common 

 fly-net was an indignity with which he really could not put up. 

 When last seen he was flying with undiminished vigour over the 

 shoulder of a mountain no one knows how far away. As Kidd 

 remarked, " It was a very curious-like animal." We returned to 

 the ' Diana' after that. Apparently redpolls are not uncommon in 

 that part of Wiide Bay. Our men saw five or six on the uplands 

 in the same neighbourhood. They also found a nest upon the 

 ground, containing five eggs, blue spotted with reddish, which were 

 possibly redpoll's, but may have been snow bunting's. As these 

 were hard set they did not bring them to me. The crop of the 

 example shot by Kidd was fiiU of small seeds. 



Nyclea nivea (Snowy Owl). — Captain Walker, of the ' Samson,' 

 fired at a snowy owl, with a rifle on the 18th of August, in a valley 

 running out of Green Harbour. It was one of the linest he 

 had ever seen. As he was after deer at the time, and was very 

 familiar with this species of birds in the Straits, he did not think 

 it worth his while to make any further effort to secure it. 



Lagopus hemUeucruriis, Gould (Ptarmigan). — Leaving to Prof. 

 Newton all critical remarks upon the speciality of the Spitsbergen 

 ptarmigan, I will give here a resume of our more general observa- 

 tions. The birds were not scarce in King's Bay. Messrs. Potter 

 and Chermside killed several brace there at the end of May. The 

 cocks were yet in their winter plumage, but all the hens were 

 brown. When do these become white ? In July we found in 

 Wiide Bay plenty of ptarmigan, the cocks presenting difi'erent 

 stages of advancement towards the completion of the moult. But 

 it was not until August that I met with a cock in his full summer 

 dress. It was low down in the cliffs in Lonime Bay, close to the 

 sea, and I knocked him over with a stone. He was just as stupid 

 as the bird chased by Kidd in Wiide Bay, standing in the same 

 way within three or four yards of me, stretching out his neck and 

 blinking his eyes, moving only now and than a few steps at a time, 

 until a stone struck him. Then being not much hurt (they are 

 such tough birds) he began to walk slowly away, and allowed me 

 to throw at him again, this lime with more success. Their call 

 resembles that of a reindeer ; they utter also a glucking noise when 

 they are surprised or are with their brood. They are usually found 



