Mr. A. Newton on the Birds of Spitsbergen. 521 



breeding on Bear Island in incredible numbers, intermixed 

 with occasional examples of the so-called U. lacrymans, which 

 I quite agree with him in considering to be only a variety of 

 the Common Guillemot. I, however, as strongly dissent from 

 his opinion in regarding U. bruennichi in the same light, the 

 differences between it and U. troile being, as is admitted by the 

 great majority of naturalists, very striking. He saw this latter, 

 breeding only on Bear Island, but is inclined to think Briin- 

 nich's Guillemot may also inhabit the more lofty cliffs there. 



26. Mekgulus ALLE (L.) J Torell, p. 62; Malmgren, 1863, 

 p. 112; Id. 1864, p. 408. "Rotge,'' Marten, p. 85, tab. M. 

 fig. b. Alca alle, Phipps, p. 186 ; Scoresby, i. p. 528. Uria 

 alle, Ross, p. 197. Arctica alle, Evans and Sturge, p. 168. 



This pretty little bird is, as has been said, numerous almost 

 beyond belief on the greater part of the coast. Parry^s Expedi- 

 tion met with it as far to the north as the party travelled, and 

 on their return in August found it in great numbers between 

 lat. 81° and 82° N. We did not see it in the Stor Fjord, nor 

 did Dr. Malmgren. Its breeding-places, though at a less height 

 than those of its allies, are still far from being easily accessible ; 

 but I have mentioned one to within a few feet of which I was 

 able to climb and superintend the capture of the young. Mr. 

 Lament, in his entertaining work, ' Seasons with the Sea- 

 Horses,' states his opinion (p. 93) that it is the mutings of 

 this bird which produce the well-known " red snow.'' I do 

 not at all agree to this ; for, setting aside the fact that the cause 

 of that singular appearance has been fully determined, and 

 that it occurs in regions where there are no birds of the kind, 

 the mutings of the Rotche, or Little Auk, are like anchovy- 

 paste, while the red snow, or such of it as I saw, is of an 

 entirely different colour, being a dull crimson. 



27. Fratercula glacialis (Leach) ; Stephens, Gen. Zool. 

 xiii. pt. i. p. 40, pi. 4. fig. 2 ; G. R. Gray, List B. Brit. Mus. 

 (1844) pt. iii. p. 153, exempli, a, i. ; Evans and Sturge, p. 172. 

 " Diving Parret," Marten, p. 89, tab. K. fig. c. Alca arctica, 

 Phipps, p. 186; Scoresby, p. 527. Mormon glacialis, ^dLumoxm, 

 Isis, 1821, p. 783, tab. vii. fig. 2. (head only). M. fratercula, 



