SPITZBEEGEN PTARMIGAN. 123 



Bay, and, as I have before mentioned, obtained the specimen I saw 

 with him far up the North Fjord of Ice Sound." 



"One of the two eggs from the only nest found by Messrs. Evans 

 and Strange was kindly presented to me. It is rather small for the 

 general size of the bird when compared with others of the genus, 

 measuring 1.65 by 1.23 inches, but of course is thoroughly Lagopiden 

 in character. I do not think any other eggs of this bird have been 

 brought from Spitzbergen." 



Messrs. Evans and Strange (Ibis, 1859, p. 169,) thus describe their 

 discovery of this bird: — "During the time we lay here we made many 

 excursions along the shores of this fjord, but the depth of the now 

 melting snow prevented us from going any distance inland. On one 

 occasion, after ascending about two-thirds of a high mountain, we 

 shot a few birds, including a brace of Ptarmigan. We afterwards 

 found these birds very abundant, and exceedingly tame; but most 

 unfortunately, as it turned out, only preserved the skin of one (a 

 female) specimen. This has since been submitted to Mr. Gould, and 

 that celebrated ornithologist has described it as new under the title 

 of Lagopus Jiemileucurus. It is therefore unnecessary for us to give 

 a detailed account of this new European bird; we need only say 

 that it can be at once distinguished from the Common Ptarmigan of 

 Great Britain and Scandinavia by its larger size, which fully equals 

 that of the Willow Grouse (Z. alhus, Bonaparte,) and from this again 

 by its tail, the basal half of which is white. The general plumage 

 of the female in summer much resembles that of the female Common 

 Ptarmigan at the same time. All the males we saw were still in the 

 winter dress, though their white feathers had become very dirty; but 

 the females had changed. In the same neighbourhood one of us 

 found a nest of this bird, if nest it could be called, being formed 

 only of a few long stems of dry grass, bent down in a trench-like 

 hollow in the barren fjeld (or high table-land), where the snow had 

 been thawed, or perhaps been blown away, which latter might have 

 been the case, so bleak and exposed was the situation. There were 

 two eggs, which resemble those of others of the genus. One of them 

 measures 1.6 inch in length by 1.22 in transverse diameter." 



The following is Professor Newton's second letter to the Ibis for 

 1871, p. 249: — "On a former occasion I expressed a belief that the 

 Lagopus of Spitzbergen, first described by Mr. Gould under the name 

 of L. Jiemileucurus, was identical with L. rupestris. I now state that 

 I have much doubt on that point, and that I am inclined to recog- 

 nize its distinctness. Hofrath Von Heugiin has within the last few 

 days kindly sent for my inspection some birds' skins collected by him 



