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



scarcer, according to Dr. Malmgren, towards the north. How- 

 ever, that gentleman, on the 15th July, 1861, observed at Shoal 

 Point, lat. 80° 10' N., flocks of hundreds of male birds, which 

 seemed to be on their way still further north — a very remarkable 

 fact. This species seems to be decreasing in numbers, owing to 

 the persecution it undergoes. 



Scoresby remarks on the small size of the Greenland Eiders ; 

 and, in his last publication. Dr. Malmgren has some remarks on 

 the same subject. He gives a table showing that the dimensions 

 of the bill in four examples from Spitsbergen are constantly less 

 than in three from the Baltic. There is, however, no difference 

 in the plumage of the birds from the two localities. He states 

 that examples procured by Herr Meves on the coast of Holstein 

 in winter resemble those from Spitsbergen more nearly in the 

 form of the bill, but differ by being larger in body. I, unfor- 

 tunately, did not bring home any Spitsbergen specimens ; I am 

 therefore unable to test these observations. 



The so-called King-Duck of Beechey, as Dr. Malmgren justly 

 remarks, is the present, and not the next species. 



22. SoMATERiA spECTABiLis (L.); Torell, p. 57; Malmgren, 

 1863, p. 109; Id. 1864, p. 401. Anas spectabilis, Temminck, 

 Man. d'Orn. 2nd ed. 1820, p. 851 ; Schrader, Journ. f. Orn. 

 1853, p. 322. 



This species has several times been noticed in Spitsbergen — 

 by Professor Loven in Ice Sound in 1837, by Professor Sun- 

 devall in Bell Sound the following year, and by Professor Nor- 

 denskjold, who killed two examples on the south-east coast, in 

 1858; but it is certainly not of common occurrence there as most 

 writers have asserted. I very much question if it breeds in the 

 country, and it has not been met with further north than Ice 

 Sound, lat. 76° 14' N., where last year I believe I saw a young 

 drake flying on July 22nd ; and Ludwig, the same day, was in 

 unsuccessful pursuit of three birds which were, I suspect, of this 

 species. Dr. Malmgren, however, had better luck, and showed 

 ine one which was shot out of a small flock, at the beginning of 

 the month, in Safe Haven. Another little flock was also observed 

 by him in August on the Horn Sound Islands ; but in the south- 

 east harbour of Bear Island, on the 18th-19th June, he saw 



