180 



2 



on either side, 1 50 millimetres long, and the hase white for 50 millimetres, the shaft white ; quills 

 with a dark median stripe along the feather. Total length, moderately stretched, 450 millimetres, 

 wing 228, tail 150. It is thus larger than Gould's female. (C. J. Sundevall in Elliot's Tetraonina.) 

 The winter plumage of the Spitsbergen Ptarmigan is like that of the Scandinavian bird, except that the 

 feathers are much longer, bushier, and peculiarly soft. In size they greatly exceed the Scandinavian 

 species, as the one shot at Wyde Bay measured over 17 Swedish inches from the tip of the beak to the 

 end of the tail. {A. J. Malmgren, J. f. O. 1863, p. 370.) 



Although many ornithologists have considered the characters by which this bird is distinguished 

 to be of no real importance, we, on the other hand, believe that it constitutes a distinct species. 

 Professor Newton, who has examined the same specimens as ourselves, sums up his remarks on 

 them in the following words: — "On a former occasion (Ibis, 1865, p. 504) I expressed a belief 

 that the Lag opus of Spitsbergen, first described by Mr. Gould under the name of L. hemileucurus, 

 was identical with L. rupestris. I now wish to state that I have much doubt on that point, and 

 that I am inclined to recognize its distinctness. Hofrath von Heuglin has within the last few 

 days kindly sent for my inspection some birds' skins collected by him in that country last year. 

 Among these are three specimens of Lagopus ; and on comparing them with a tolerably good 

 series of examples of L. rupestris from Greenland (L. reinhardti) and Iceland (L. islandorum), I 

 find that the rectrices of all the Spitsbergen birds are so much variegated with white as fully to 

 deserve the name applied by Mr. Gould, while those of L. rupestris are invariably black, except 

 in some cases at the tip. Furthermore, one of the Spitsbergen birds, marked ' male ' by Herr 

 von Heuglin, though apparently fully coloured on the breast and back, is of a very different shade 

 from any male of L. rupestris that I remember having seen. Under these circumstances I think 

 that it is quite possible that L. hemileucurus is entitled to specific rank, though it is certainly 

 more nearly allied to L. rupestris than to L. alpinus." In order that the differences in the 

 coloration of the tails of the present species and L. rupestris may be better appreciated, we have 

 had a woodcut executed to illustrate the distinctive characters. 



Professor Sundevall, in a communication furnished to Mr. Elliot's great work on the Grouse, 

 gives an account of three specimens in the Stockholm Museum, in both summer and winter 

 plumage, and, after stating full particulars concerning these examples, concludes in the following 

 words : — " On comparing these birds with the males from Greenland and Iceland, these last are 

 found to be much smaller, and the base of the rectrices much less white, which colour does not 

 extend further on the shaft than on the web ; also the shafts of the remiges are black for their 

 whole breadth. As these differences seem to be constant, they are sufficient to render the 

 Spitsbergen bird always recognizable from the other two, and thus entitle it to be considered a 

 distinct form, if we may not even believe it to be of different origin. I have a female from 

 Greenland, and in this the white basal part of the outer rectrices has really a little difference in 

 form from the male's ; it is larger on the outer side. From the European Lagopus they all differ, 

 the males more, the females from Greenland less ; but they come very close to it in the form of 

 the bill, black lores," &c. Mr. Elliot finishes up his very complete account of this species thus : — 

 " As it seems pretty evident that the extent of the white on the tail varies in different specimens 

 (a fact which I have noticed in a large number of examples of Lagopus albus), the claims of this 

 bird to specific distinction rest upon its large size, which, at the best, is a very questionable 



