Mr. A. Newton on the Birds of Spitsbergen. 519 



them, I refrain from encumbering this paper with a table of 

 their comparative dimensions. In coming to a conclusion on 

 this point also, I have also to acknowledge the kind assistance 

 I have received from Mr. G. R. Gray. I here subjoin a very- 

 brief diagnosis of the four forms I have above named, taken 

 from adult birds in their breeding-plumage. 



A. Macula alari alba. 

 (1.) C. mandti (Licht.), tectricibus alarum ad radices albis. 

 (3.) C. grylle (Linn.), tectricibus alarum fascia nigra celata. 

 (3.) C. columba (Cassin)* {Cepphus columba,Va\\siS, partim) , 

 tectricibus alarum fascia nigra conspicua. 



B. Alis totis nigris. 



(4.) C. carbo, Pallas, " orbitis albis, basi rostri alarumque 

 cinerascente " (Zoogr. R.-As. ii. p. 350). 



Mandt^s Dovekie is, with the exception of Fratercula glacialis, 

 the least numerous of the Alcidce in Spitsbergen ; but it is 

 plentiful enough, for all that. Dr. Malmgren states that it 

 breeds, in company with its allies, on the cliffs. The only eggs 

 I procured were taken by one of our crew, who said they were 

 lying on a low rock quite exposed, and not in a hole as I 

 believe is always the case with those of our Black Guillemot ; 

 but they closely resemble those of that bird, and, from what I 

 afterwards observed on Russo, I am inclined to think it also 

 has the same mode of nidification. I cannot discover from Dr. 

 Malmgren^s paper which form it is that inhabits Bear Island ; 

 and this is a point to which I hope future voyagers will pay 

 attention. A great many of the Dovekies seen about Spitsbergen 

 have all the appearance of being barren birds; and these often 

 have the tips of their secondaries weathered, a fact which led 

 Lichtenstein and subsequently Brehm to regard this accidental 

 circumstance as a real character. Such specimens also gene- 

 rally have dusky tips to the white feathers of the upper wing- 

 coverts, and therefore seem to be birds of the preceding year 



* Pallas (Zoogr. R.-A. ii. p. 349) regards the black-banded birds from 

 the Pacific as varieties ; and his diagnosis of the species is not applicable to 

 them. His, therefore, cannot be regarded as the first description of this 

 form ; and accordingly I quote Mr. Cassin (Baird's B, N. Am. p. 912) 

 as the authority for the same. 



