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



which have not fully moulted off their nestling-plumage. The 

 same may, no doubt, be observed in the true C. grylle ; and in 

 this stage of plumage, one or other of the two forms (it is 

 impossible to say which) has been the original of Brehm^s Uria 

 meisneri. 



25. Uria bruennichi, Sabine ; Evans and Sturge, p. 168 ; 

 Torell, p. 62. " Lumb," Marten, p. 80, tab. M. fig. a. Colym- 

 bus troile, Phipps, p. 187 ; Scoresby, ii. p. 532. Alca tarda, 

 Ross, p. 198; Gaimard, Voy. en Scand., Atlas, livr. ix. pi. — . 

 {adult.), livr. x. pi. — . fig. sup. (puUus) ; Torell, p. 63 ! A. 

 bruennichii, Malmgren, 1863, p. 111. A. troile v. bruennichi, 

 Id. 1864, p. 404. Uria arra, G. R. Gray, List B. Br. Mus. 

 pt. iii. p. 156, exempl. b. ; A. Newton, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 495. 



The above list of synonyms will show the difference of opinion 

 that has existed respecting the species, which, with perhaps one 

 exception, is the most common in Spitsbergen. That the older 

 voyagers should be mistaken is not surprising, and even Sir 

 James Ross may be pardoned for his error; but the same ex- 

 cuse cannot be made for the French savans, under whose 

 direction the adult bird was figured in their ' Atlas ' and mis- 

 called Alca tarda, a species which later investigation has failed 

 to detect in the country. 



Dr. Malmgren considers this to be the most abundant species 

 of the Spitsbergen Ornis, and I am quite ready to yield to 

 his far greater experience, though, for my own part, I should 

 have given that place to Mergulus alle -, but there cannot be 

 much to choose between them. It breeds as far to the north 

 as Walden Island, lat. 80° 38' N.; but, according to Sir 

 James Ross (who mistook it for the Razorbill), it was not seen 

 beyond that and Little Table Island. Its food is chiefly crus- 

 taceans; but, according to Dr. Malmgren, it also lives a good 

 deal on fish. He states that by the end of August all the 

 breeding-places on the north coast were already deserted ; and 

 I have stated that towards the same time the birds, which 

 had previously thronged the Alkenhorn in such countless num- 

 bers, were rapidly quitting it. To the eastward of South Cape 

 I do not think we saw the species at aU. 



In his voyage last year. Dr. Malmgren found Uria troile 



