594 



4 



the next autumn a few were seen in different parts of Skane, chiefly on rivers and lakes. It has 

 been also shot on the Wenern, Mjosen, Wormen, &c. 



According to Dr. Palmen it has been met with even in Central Lapland, and one was found 

 in December 1865 in Pudasjarvi, starved and scarcely able to fly. A. von Nordmann says that it 

 has been met with in the northern portions of the Gulf of Bothnia; and Professor Nylander 

 records it from near Uleaborg, and in 1865 a young one not fully feathered was caught on the 

 Kattilankalla coast, about three miles (Swedish) out at sea. Mr. Ridderstadh shot an immature 

 bird at Christinestad in December 1852; another was shot in the parish of Nerpis on the 16th 

 March 1858; an old bird was obtained on the 29th October 1864 at Melko, near Helsingfors, 

 by Mr. Brenner; and one was seen there again in the autumn of 1870. Furthermore, the Borga 

 fishermen assured Mr. Hintze that a small bird they called Nir/cM was found in the outer fringe 

 of islands, which appeared to be this species. I have no details as to its occurrences on the 

 northern shores of Russia ; but it is common off Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen. Mr. Gillett 

 found it much more numerous in the north than in the south of Novaya Zemlya ; and Dr. Th. 

 von Heuglin remarks that he only met with it on the drift ice in the Gulf of Kara. Referring 

 to its presence in Spitsbergen, Professor Newton writes (Ibis, 1865, p. 521) as follows: — "This 

 pretty little bird is, as has been said, numerous almost beyond belief on the greater part of the 

 coast. Parry's expedition 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." Dr. Malmgren 

 says that he met with it below 73° N. lat., and that it gradually increased in numbers as they 

 proceeded northwards, but was only numerous in 73°-76° N. lat., when they reached the drift ice. 

 It was not common about Bear Island ; and therefore he does not believe that it breeds there. 



It occasionally visits the coasts of Germany during winter, but is only a rare straggler ; but, 

 according to Mr. Collin, it occurs annually on the coasts of Denmark in the autumn and winter — 

 occasionally in large numbers, when driven down by the ice. It is, he says, not uncommon "for 

 them to come down the chimneys of dwelling-houses; and he received one in 1846 which had 

 been obtained thus. It occasionally visits the coasts of Holland, and has, Professor Schlegel 

 says, been seen there as early as the end of August ; and Baron von Droste Hiilshoff says that it 

 usually appears in East Friesland after severe storms during the winter, being then not unfre- 

 quently cast up on the shore dead. The same may be said respecting its occurrence on the 

 coasts of Belgium and France, where it is met with now and again. I do not find it recorded 

 from Spain or Portugal ; but Mr. Layard observed it off Cape Finisterre, and it ranges as far 

 south in the Atlantic Ocean as the Azores and Canaries. Mr. Godman says that it is said to be 

 more numerous in the eastern Canaries, though found occasionally throughout the group. He 

 also includes it in his list of the birds of the Azores on the strength of a specimen in the collec- 

 tion of a gentleman in Terceira, which was killed in the island four or five years previous to his 

 visit there. It has not, so far as I can ascertain, been found in the Mediterranean, nor on the 

 African coast ; and I do not find it recorded from the northern coasts of Siberia by the explorers 

 who have visited that country. On the American continent it is common in the Arctic regions 

 and on the north-east coasts, but has not been met with in Alaska or on the west coast. 



