502 Mr. A. Newton on the Birds of Spiisbe7^ffen. 



National Museum at Stockholm. Whether this bird is more 

 than an accidental straggler to Spitsbergen may be doubted, 

 since the entire absence from that country of any Rodentia, 

 which commonly form its prey, must make its means of subsist- 

 ence there precarious. This is the only recorded instance of 

 the Snowy Owl having been met with in Spitsbergen; but Stabbel, 

 our pilot, told me he had known of its occurrence there pre- 

 viously, — I think he said, on the eastern coast. 



3. Plectbophanes nivalis (L.)j Evans and Sturge, op. cit. 

 p. 170 ; Torell, op. cit. p. 49 ; Malmgren, 1864, p. 379. '' Snow- 

 bird," Marten, op. cit. p. 73, tab. K. fig. b. Emberiza nivalis, 

 Phipps, op. cit, p. 188 ; Scoresby, op. cit. i. p. 537 ; Ross, op. 

 cit. p. 193 j Keilhau, op. cit. p. 163; Malmgren, 1863, p. 99. 

 Fringilla jiammea and F. linaria, Scoresby, i. pp. 131 and 537 ? 



I have already mentioned the discovery of two nests of this 

 species beneath the Alkenhorn, and that a family-party were 

 observed on Kusso. Dr. Malmgren states that when at sea in 

 the latitude of Bear Island, on the 19th of May, in his first 

 voyage, the rigging of the vessel was suddenly covered by a 

 flock of Snow-Buntings, which did not stay to rest very long, 

 but continued their course towards Spitsbergen, against a stormy 

 wind. This bird appears to extend its range to the furthest 

 north of the country, he having found a brood of newly-fledged 

 young in Brandy wine Bay (lat. 80° 24' N.). The specimens 

 I obtained seemed to be of the Old-World type ; that is to say, 

 they are not quite so large or so stoutly-built as those I have 

 from Greenland and America. If the Fringilla jiammea or 



F. linaria of Scoresby be not this species, I am at a loss what 

 to make of it ; for certainly it is extremely unlikely that a species 

 of Redpoll should resort to a country so entirely destitute of 

 anything that can be called a tree or shrub as Spitsbergen is. 



4. Lagopus hemileucurus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 354; 

 Evans and Sturge, pp. 169, 170; A. Newton, P.Z.S. 1864, p. 

 498. " Ice-bird,'' Marten, p. 74 ? Tetrao lagopus, Ross, p. 193. 

 Lagopus alpina var. hjperborea, Gaimard, Voyages en Scandi- 

 navie. Atlas, livr. xxxviii. pi. — [descr. nulla). Lagopus mutus, 



G. R. Gray, List B. Brit. Mus. (1844) pt. iii. p. 48, exempl. /. 



