wliite, but the Inst rcniiges, tertials, and a mimbcr of the grentcr rectrices towards the back, arc new sHinmcr feathers, as shown in the plate. The
sca|ii of tho reiiiiges arc white, with a fuscous or blackisli strijic along the middle, but tcviniimtiiig long before the end of the feather is reached.
The rest of the coloring docs not dillVi- fioin the males from Greenland and Iceland with which I have been enabled to eoinpare it. The only
fault in tlie figuro I ha\’o inciitioiiod, is, that the lores are not (lark enough, which is caused by the fact that the greater portion of tho black
feathers arc oat, and the new ones had not been perfected.
" Within a few years ivo have obtained two other specimens: one, a male in p u iv winlei' dress : white, with broad, perfectly black lores; shot
011 north coast of Sjiitzbcrgeii, 1st of Jniic, 18(11, and brought home with Thorcll's expedition. It is in a bad state, bat the tail is complete.
Besides the two white rectrices there arc seven black to each side; 150 milHinetrcs long, and the base, for 50 millimetres, white, vvith the shaft as
ill the first specimen, bat whitish for about 20 millimetres nearer the end of the feather. The rcmigcs, like the furiaev, have a dark middle stripe
along the sliaft. Dimciisioiis a little greater. Total leugtli, moderately stretched, 450 millimetres; wing, 228; tail, 150. I t is thus larger than
Gould’s female.
“ Our third siiccimeii, a male, was beginning to moult,—shot the 7th of July, 1SC4, a t Iccfjovd, and brought home by Malaigrea. It is also in
poor |ircsorvatioa, and is white; but tho head, neck, vcgis scapiilavis, havo very many iicw sniiiincr feathers. Tail and rcmigcs exactly like those
of the two other specimens, but dimensions a little greater. Lciigtli of wing, 235 millimetres; tail, about 150; bill and nails, blackisli, as in the
two fovnior. The white on the base of the tail is coiiecalod by the surronnding feathers in all tiirce specimens.
'■ All arc ill a bad state, ns the two latter expeditions conId not remain a long time in each place, and the skins dry very slowly in that
elimato. My own specimen would have boon bettor if it had not been moulting, with most of. its feathers blood feathers. This bird seems
to ho scarce a t Spitzbcrgen, in all three instances. In ours there were no more obtained than the one brought home, and only a t Icefjord
did Malmgi'cii sec two move. Mi'. Gould's ornithologist says he found tlioin very plentiful: but lie ¡irobably only met one somewhat large family,
which he has stoutly destroyed. A great numbci' of travellers, ivho shoot only to kill, or perhaps to eat, contribute very much to perfect
the work of the icc-foxcs a t Spitzbci gon, and of the common foxes in other places.
III the specimen brought home by me there were only plants in the awophagus saccns, as leaves and flowci-s of Saxifragao, etc. Maliiigren
states (in the Rcw of the Acad. Sc„ of Stoekliolin, 1SC4, ¡i. 379), tb a t he once heard a sound uttered by the nmle like arrr or ern; in a coarse
voice, resembling somewhat the croaking of a frog. Pabricius also remarks this in the Greenland species.
“ On comparing these birds »ith. the males fi-oin Gi'ceiiiaiid and Iceland, these last are found to be much smaller (wing 190 and 193 millimetres),
and the base of the rectrices much less white, which color docs not extend farther on the shaft than on the web : also, the shafts of the
remigcs arc black for their whole bi-cadtli. As these diffcrciiecs seem to be constant, tliey arc sufficient to render the Siiitzbcrgcn bird
always recognizable from the other two, and thus entitle it to be considered a distinct form, if wo may not even bolieve it to be of different
origin.
“ I have a female from Greenland, and in this the white basil part of the outer rectrices has really a little diffevenec in form from the
males. It is larger on the outer side. Prom the European Lagopus Mntns they ail iliffer, evidently, the males more, tlie females from
Greenland less, iu color, but tliey conic very close to it in the form of the bill, black lores, etc.”
As it seems pretty evident that the extent of the white on the tail vario.« eoiisidernbly in different spccinieus—a fact which I have
noticed ill a large number of examples of Lagopus Albns—the claims of this bird for sjiecilic distinction rest upon its large size, which, at
the best, is a very qnostioiiablo snfflciency ; and it would seem most likely to be tho Lagopns Rupestris: but w ithout any number of
oxam])lcs to enable me to foviii my opinion, I have deemed it best to give a figure of tlie foniaie sent to Mr. Gould, and to hope that
some no very distant day will afford the nihtcrial for rightly determining wliat is now so doubtful a point.