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



egg. Dr. Malmgren was good enough to present me with an 

 egg from Bear Island, where it also breeds plentifully*. Ful- 

 mars vary in size not inconsiderably ; but I see no reason to 

 believe in the existence of a second species, at least not in the 

 northern hemisphere. Anton Rolandson Martin (who must not 

 be coofounded with Friedrich Marten) in 1758 visited Spits- 

 bergen ; but the only result of his voyage I can discover is a 

 very good description of this bird and its habits, though he does 

 not seem to have been quite clear about its synonymyf. 



17. Bernicla brenta, Steph.; Evans and Sturge, p. 167; 

 Malmgren, 1864, p. 394. " Red Gees," Marten, p. 97. Anas 

 bm'nicla, Scoresby, p. 527 ; Koss, p. 196. Anser bernicla, Torell, 

 p. 60; Malmgren, 1863, p. 106. A. leucopsis, Torell, p. 60?; 

 Malmgren, 1863, p. 107 ? Bernicla leucopsis, Id. 1864, p. 395 ? 



In Parry^s Expedition, on the 16th June, a nest of this bird, with 

 two eggs, was brought on board from Ross Islet, lat. 80° 48' N. 

 — perhaps the most northern land ever visited by man. It was 

 then also seen in large flocks about Walden and Little Table 

 Islands. Dr. Malmgren found it breeding on the Depot Holm, 

 and also on the shore of the mainland in Treurenberg Bay, the 

 latter fact proving Prof. Torell's remark, that it only breeds on 

 islets, to be an imperfect generalization. Messrs. Evans and 

 Sturge, to whom I am indebted for specimens of its eggs, found 

 it breeding on the South Cape Islands. One of our party killed 

 a young bird, hardly able to fly, on Round Island. 



As is well known, the name Anas or Anser bernicla has been 

 applied by some writers to the Brent, and by others to the Ber- 



* The very limited number of breeding-places of the Fulmar forms a 

 curious contrast to the extraordinary abundance of the species. In the 

 British Islands, I believe St. Kilda is its only abode. About the year 1839 

 it was first found breeding on the Faeroes, where it has since much in- 

 creased, and now occupies several spots in that group of islands. In Ice- 

 land it has some four or five stations. Mr. Wheelwright states (' Ten Years 

 in Sweden,' p. 402) that it breeds " in the islands ofFNorrland and Finland " 

 [qu. Nordland and Finmark?] ; but this is one of the statements he has 

 loosely copied from Nilsson, and I doubt its truth, believing that the bird 

 has no breeding-place in any part of the Scandinavian peninsula. 



t Ludwig, who left me at Tromso to return home, wrote me word that he 

 saw a " Hav-hest " at Kolari, on the Mnonio, just above its confluence with 

 the Tornea, as he descended the former river. 



