on June 27th. The site was just like those already visited — a crevice in the 

 perpendicular rock face, with the usual untidy bits of drift and a feather or two, 

 which constitute a Puffin's idea of what a nest ought to be. The egg proved to 

 be only slightly incubated, and was readily blown. 



We had now four eggs, all very similar in size and not showing much 

 variation, but in some cases with a few dark, almost inky spots, with soft edges, — 

 suggesting an absorbent shell. The most interesting point about them, however, 

 is their large size, averaging 67.27 x 45.87 mm. Twenty-six eggs of the typical 

 race from Bear Island, Iceland, and the Murman coast, average 60.8 x 42.29 

 mm. Although there is a certain amount of overlapping in individual cases, 

 averages of series of measured eggs confirm exactly the results obtained by the 

 measurement of series of wings and beaks. This is, of course, only one out of 

 many scores of similar cases, and in view of them it is difficult to see how any 

 reasoning ornithologist can afford any longer to ignore the importance of oological 

 characters. Up to the present the lack of reliable material, and the inability to 

 make good use of what we have got, have been responsible for the general neglect 

 of this most interesting branch of study. 



ON THE NESTING OF THE BARNACLE GOOSE IN SPITSBERGEN 



A. H. Paget Wilkes, B. A., M. B. O. U. 



Although infinitely more interesting, owing to the rarity of the species 

 encountered and the complexity of their migratory movements and breeding 

 problems, bird nesting in the high North is usually accompanied by more dis- 

 comfort and inconvenience than days spent in some great gullery on the south 

 coast of England or hunting for Warblers' nests among the leafy undergrowth 

 of brake and wood on some warm day in June. The Oxford University Ex- 

 pedition to Spitsbergen was, however, singularly fortunate in selecting a year 

 phenomenally free from ice and suitable in every way from the point of view 

 of weather. Never shall I forget coming up from the forecabin of our 100- 

 ton sloop, the "Terinngen" to catch my first view of Spitsbergen. It seem- 

 ed as if the Alps had been transported to the Mediterranean, with their 

 snowy slopes coming down to the water's edge and the serrated, blue and white 

 paths of their glaciers cut short in tremendous ice-walls, sometimes as much as 

 two hundred feet high; and above all the expansive blue of a sky without a 

 cloud. As we entered Ice Fjord we saw the long island called Prince Charles' 

 Foreland lying out to sea, where we found the Pink-footed Goose {Anser brachy- 

 rhynchus) breeding, with its marshes and peaks covered in snow. We took 

 some time running up Ice Fjord to Advent Bay where we arrived late in the 

 evening. 



It was in one of the valleys debouching on this bay that Koenig found the 

 Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis) breeding in 1907 and 1908. During the 

 expeditions of these two years he obtained three nests, containing clutches of 

 five, four and three eggs respectively. We were fortunate in obtaining no less 

 than five nests, containing c/5 c/5 c/5 c/4 c/3, 22 eggs in all. Manniche met 

 with this species breeding in N. E. Greenland on the face of a great inland cliff, 

 but obtained no eggs or information regarding its nidification. 



As soon as we arrived, Messrs. Jourdain, Gordon and myself started out. 

 After walking along the flat for a certain distance we found ourselves in a long 

 valley with steep mountain-sides on which the snow still lay about in great patches. 

 A snow-stream ran down the centre and filled the lower level of the valley. 

 The slopes on either side consisted of big boulders which had come down from 

 the rocky bastions and towering cliffs above us, the bastions forming a ridge 

 along the valley. It was here that we looked with care and eagerness. Walking 

 on near the stream, we were soon delighted to see a pair of Barnacle Geese fly 

 out from the mountain-side. They flew round us somewhat excitedly and 

 finally pitched into some rocks about half a mile further on. Though we could 



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