474 



ascertained to have been taken within eight miles of the town of Thetford, besides many others 

 which were procured elsewhere.' Since that date but few had been observed from year to year 

 until the autumn of 1858, when they were again numerous; and between October and January 

 of the following year about twenty specimens were obtained, principally in the neighbourhood 

 of Thetford and Yarmouth." Mr. Stevenson remarks on the extreme rarity of adult birds, and 

 says that he only knows of four in mature dress. One of these, obtained by Mr. Thomas Dix, on 

 Thetford Warren, in November 1857, was left to him by that gentleman; and he informs me 

 that it closely resembles old birds in the Norwich Museum collected by Wolley in Lapland. 



Mr. A. Clapham, of Scarborough, informs me that he possesses a very fine pair shot on the 

 cliff of Mill Bay, Scarborough ; and Mr. Cordeaux says that Mr. Boulton has had several 

 specimens captured in Holderness. In Scotland, Mr. Robert Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. 

 p. 47), " it is not common on the west side, only a very few examples having come under my 

 observation; but on the east coast it sometimes appears in considerable numbers in autumn, 

 when moving in migratory flocks. At Dunbar, for example, twenty or thirty specimens were 

 obtained by different collectors in 1840-42. I had an opportunity of examining many of these 

 at the time. This species has since that year occurred in the same district, not perhaps so 

 plentifully, but still numerously enough to attract attention." As I was penning the present 

 article I heard of the capture of several specimens in Scotland. Lord Walden informs me that 

 he obtained two, and heard of several more having been secured ; and Mr. J. J. Dalgleish writes 

 to me that he has ascertained that at least seventeen were killed in the midland district of 

 Scotland during the last six weeks, three of which passed through the hands of a local 

 bird-stuffer. 



In Ireland it is, Thompson says, an extremely rare visitant ; and I do not find it recorded 

 from Greenland, Iceland, or the Faeroes ; but it is common in Scandinavia. Mr. Collett says 

 that it breeds commonly in Norway in the fells above the tree-region, especially above the 

 arctic circle, on the islands as well as on inland heights. It is common on the Dovre and the 

 Langfjeld and their branch ranges, down to Valders and the Thelemarksfjelds (in 59-|° N. lat.). 

 Pastor Sommerfelt states that it is a resident on the Varanger fiord ; for Mr. Nordvi has seen it 

 at Mortensnass in the winter. In 1853 he found it common at Nyborg in April, the ground 

 being then covered with snow. In Southern Norway it is only met with during passage ; and 

 the same may be said as regards its occurrence in Southern Sweden ; but Nilsson says that it 

 occasionally remains through the winter. Von Wright states (Finl. Fogl. p. 37) that, excepting 

 in' the extreme north, it is rare in Finland ; and I may add that I never met with it during the 

 time I was in that country. In Russia it is common in the northern Governments ; and 

 Mr. Sabanaeff found it in the Ural on the steppes in the district of Shadrinsk, where it pro- 

 bably breeds, and whence it migrates to the south-eastern part of the district of Ekaterinbourg ; 

 and he further states that it is met with in the woodless parts of the Northern Ural. In 

 November it occurs near Moscow on its migration southward, but is not often met with in the 

 spring. Sabanaeff states that it breeds in the north-eastern part of the Government of Jaroslaf ; 

 and, according to Meshanoff, it also breeds in the Vologda Government ; and the naturalist 

 Miasnikoff says that it is numerous in the Government of Tula during the winter season, and 

 also breeds there. Professor Bogdanoff is of opinion that it may possibly breed in the districts 



