506 Mr, A. Newton on the Birds of Spitsbergen. 



south to the extreme north, and doubtless breeding in many 

 places, the exact spots selected by this beautiful species are 

 still unknown to me. Dr. Malmgren was as unsuccessful in 

 his first voyage as Ludwig and I were. Last year the skipper 

 of the Swedish exploring-vessel found a nest with four eggs 

 up the North Fjord of the Sound at the beginning of July. 

 The contents he put in his cap ; but as he was stalking deer at 

 the time, he forgot the treasures he was carrying, and the conse- 

 quence was that they were all smashed. Later in the month Pro- 

 fessor Duner found a nest with three fresh eggs in Bell Sound. 

 They lay on the ground, which consisted of small splinters of 

 stone, without any bedding. They are now at Stockholm. 

 Neither of the parent birds was observed by the nest. Dr. 

 Malmgren noticed this species as far north as lat. 80*^ 10'. He 

 states, it feeds chiefly on a species of Nostoc ; but the stomachs 

 of those I dissected on Eusso contained many gnats and their 

 larvEe. 



9. Sterna macrura, Naum.; Evans and Sturge, p. 167; 

 Malmgren, 1864, p. 385. "Kirmew," Marten, p. 92, tab. N. 

 fig. b. Sterna hirundo, Phipps, p. 188. S. arctica, Ross, p. 194; 

 Torell, p. 63; Malmgren, 1863, p. 101; Scoresby, p. 533; G. 

 R. Gray, List B. Brit. Mus. (1844) pt. iii. p. 177, exempli, g, h. 



The Arctic Tern is tolerably common in Spitsbergen, breeding 

 as far as lat. 80° N., where Dr. Malmgren found it in countless 

 numbers in July and August. In Ice Sound it was not very 

 plentiful; but on the 15th July, Professor Nordenskjold kindly 

 sent me two eggs which he had himself found that day at the 

 entrance. Among the Thousand Islands it was numerous, and 

 the eggs are, of course, looked for by the walrus-hunters who 

 resoi't thither. Old Frederick Marten mentions the excellence 

 of their edible qualities ; and the regular visitors to Spitsbergen 

 have naturally not lost knowledge of the fact since his time, 

 Dr. Malmgren first observed the bird between the 10th and 11th 

 of June, in Treurenberg Bay. He states that it feeds principally 

 on surface-swimming animals — crustaceans, mollusks, and the 

 like. It would certainly have some difficulty to procure a suffi- 

 ciency of small fish as in other countries. 



