14 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



looked white enough for F. candicans. Probably the few Falcons 

 that have been seen in Spitzbergen belonged to the same species. 

 One of our men told me he had previously seen a Falcon in 

 Spitzbergen which, though he (very vaguely) described it as 

 "the common brown falcon," is much more likely to have been 

 one of the grey Gyrfalcons, very possibly an immature bird. 

 Although it is not impossible that the bird seen by us on these 

 two occasions was one and the same, and that the bird the 

 seaman told me of was not a Falcon at all, yet it seems likely 

 that a species of Falco is not so rare in Spitzbergen as was 

 previously supposed {vide Zool. 1882, p. 416 ; and Newton, ' Ibis,' 

 April, 1865). 



Snow Bunting, Plectrophanes nivalis, L. ; Norwegian, " Sne- 

 Spurv," " Sne-titing." — Very numerous at Cape Thordsen on 

 Sept. 12th between the coast and the house occupied by the 

 Swedish Meteorological Expedition ; and a large flock, which 

 were extraordinarily shy, at Sassen Bay on the 15th. A single 

 bird flew in a southerly direction past the smack, in about lat. 

 75° r, on Sept. 28th. 



Buflfon's Skua, Stercorarius longicaudus, Vieillot. — The Nor- 

 wegian ice-seamen do not, I think, recognise the existence of any 

 other species of Skua than S. crepidatus, and therefore have, so 

 far as I know, no name besides " Tyvjo." A pair of Skuas, 

 which may have been this species, at sea in about lat. 15r' 34' on 

 Sept. 3rd ; and a single bird in Green Harbour on the morning 

 of Sept. 9th may perhaps also have been this species. 



Brent Goose, Bernicla brenta, Steph. ; Norwegian, " Trap 

 Gaas." — A large number, adults and young, seen by Arnesen 

 close to the smack early on the morning of Sept. 7th, a little 

 N.W. of South Cape. 



Pink-footed Goose, Anser hrachijrhynchus, Baillon; Norwegian, 

 "GraaGaas" (no special name for this species is in ordinary 

 use). — About eight geese, which ai^peared to be this species, seen 

 a little to the north of Horn Sound on the evening of Sept. 7th, 

 flying S. Several seen during a walk Lieutenant Stjernspetz 

 and I took westwards from the Swedish Meteorological Station at 

 Cape Thordsen on Sept. 12th ; and, as the Lieutenant succeeded 

 at that time in bagging an immature example, I might have 

 included this species among those obtained during our voyage. 

 In Sassen Bay, on Sept. 14th, I saw about fourteen geese flying, 



