Mr. A. Newton on the Birds of Spitsbergen. 499 



he did not know the difference between that bird and S. mol- 

 lissima. 



The next pubhshed addition to the Spitsbergen Ornis is that 

 of Phalaropus fulicarius by Mr. Wolley, who in his ' Catalogue 

 of Eggs/ printed in 1856 (p. 17), mentions "a dried specimen" 

 brought thence — a specimen, I may mention, which is now 

 in my possession. In his 'Catalogue^ of two years later (p. 18) 

 he added respecting this bird, that he had " ascertained that it 

 breeds " in that country. This information was, I believe, pro- 

 cured from Herr Andreas Berger (then of Hammerfest, and now 

 or lately in the naval service of the United States of America), 

 a most intelligent man, who had made many voyages to Spits- 

 bergen. 



Mr. Edward Evans and Mr. Wilson Sturge, in the summer 

 of 1855, visited the west coast of Spitsbergen ; and the first 

 volume of the former series of this Journal contains an interest- 

 ing notice of the birds they met with there. Among them was 

 a large species of Goose (Ibis, 1859, pp. 171, 172) which they 

 found breeding in Ice Sound, and inclined to believe was Anser 

 ferus, but they unfortunately neglected to bring back any spe- 

 cimens of it. They also obtained several examples of the Ptar- 

 migan of the country, one of which — and the only one they 

 preserved — was subsequently characterized as new by Mr. Gould 

 (P. Z. S. 1858, p. 354) as Lagopus hemileucurus. 



In 1858 Professor Torell formed one of the scientific expe- 

 dition organized by the Swedish Academy for the laborious 

 survey which I have before mentioned, and on bis return he 

 published an account of the Mollusca of Spitsbergen*. In this 

 he also gives a list of the birds of that country, containing two 

 species not hitherto announced as belonging to it, namely, Anser 

 leucopsis and Harelda glacialis f ; but, as we are informed by 



* Bidrag till Spitsbergens MoUuskfauna, &c. Af Otto Torell, Files. 

 Mag., Med. Kandid. Stockholm : 1859, pp. 47-65. I am indebted to 

 the kindness of my friend, Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, for an opportunity of con- 

 sulting this publication. 



t Temminck assigned Spitsbergen as a breeding-station for this species 

 in 1815 (Man. d'Orn. ed. 1, p. 560). So many of the localities he gives 

 for birds are incorrect, that I have much pleasure in mentioning this and 

 the former instance of his statements being corroborated by later observers. 



