459 



According to Professor Newton it has been twice seen on the south coast of Greenland by 

 Holboll; and in Iceland, he writes (Baring Gould's Iceland, App. p. 418), "it is pretty common 

 along the coasts, and occasionally breeds some distance inland. According to Faber it is 

 resident. He names four breeding-places in the south — an island in the (Elfusa, a sandy plain 

 opposite the Vestmanneyjar, and the dunes of SkerSarasan^r and Breiftamerkr. Dr. Kriiper 

 saw it in the north in summer time ; so that it probably breeds there also." 



It is still found in some numbers on the Faeroes ; but Captain Feilden remarks that it is so 

 persecuted that in the course of another ten years it will scarcely be found breeding there : it 

 arrives about the middle of April, and leaves in October. In Scandinavia it is only of somewhat 

 rare occurrence. Mr. Robert Collett states that it appears now and then on the coast of Norway, 

 but is a rare bird ; and though it breeds, yet it is only found nesting very sparingly in the districts 

 north of the arctic circle. Its eggs were taken on the Lofoten Islands in 1865 ; and single birds 

 have been killed in Nordland and Finmarken, where they were found preying on the eggs and 

 young of the useful sea-birds. Professor Nilsson saw a fresh-killed example in Heligoland in 

 1816 ; and in 1867 one was shot at Svaerholt, in Ostfinmark. It has, however, not been met with 

 in the Baltic, and has therefore not been recorded from the coasts of Sweden or Finland. Von 

 Baer, however, records it as found on Novaya Zemlya, in Northern Russia, though there appears 

 to be some doubt as to whether this statement is correct; and it appears to have no other claim 

 under which it can be included in the avifauna of Russia. • 



In Germany it is a rare straggler, though it has been on one or two occasions met with 

 inland. Borggreve writes that it visits the coasts in the winter, but is rare on the mainland. It 

 has occurred several times in Anhalt, once in Westphalia, and once in Silesia. It visits the 

 coasts of Denmark, where it is rare ; Kjserbolling states that it was shot at Flensborg in October 

 1849, and has been also obtained on the Holstein coast. He himself saw one in May 1850 on 

 Hirtsholmen, and watched it for some time through a field-glass. It is not recorded from 

 Belgium, but visits the coast of Holland ; and Mr. Labouchere informs me that it has been 

 obtained on inland sheets of water. It is stated to occur on the northern and western coasts of 

 France, but is not recorded from those washed by the Mediterranean. It probably is to be met 

 with off the coast of Portugal; and Mr. Howard Saunders states (Ibis, 1871, p. 400) that he 

 observed it outside the Straits of Gibraltar, where, Colonel Irby says (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 217) it 

 occurs regularly, though not commonly, in winter. In the Mediterranean it is of extremely rare 

 occurrence. Mr. A. von Homeyer states (J. f. O. 1862, p. 431) that he is certain he saw some 

 flying about between the Balearic Isles and Barcelona; and Mr. C. A. Wright says (Ibis, 1864, 

 p. 150) that a specimen shot at the Salini, on the north coast of Malta, came into his possession. 

 It is not, however, recorded from the mainland of Italy, though it has straggled down to 

 Southern Germany. Dr. A. Fritsch writes (J. f. O. 1872, p. 376) that a specimen was killed 

 with stones on a pond near Sadova, in Bohemia, in September 1865 ; and the Ritter von 

 Tschusi-Schmidhofen informs me that a pair in immature plumage were, according to Schwab, 

 killed in September 1851, on a mountain-brook on the Ostrawitza, in.Moravia, I do not find any 

 record of its occurrence further to the east than this in Europe ; but it is stated by Colonel Irby 

 (/. c.) to have occurred on the African coast, a single specimen having been obtained by Favier at 

 Tangier in December 1852. It is included by the various authors on the ornithology of North 



