224 TIIE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



seen, most of which were pale birds. On the following day, 

 in lat. yi 28' N., long. 5 8' W., more Fulmars were observed 

 than hitherto, the pale form still being far the commonest. 

 In lat. 74 30' N., long. 3 15' W., many were seen in the pack- 

 ice close to the ship, the dark form apparently predominat- 

 ing. On the following day, 31st July, under the same conditions, 

 in lat. 75 N., fifty birds were seen, 75 per cent, of which were 

 dark examples, while a few were transition forms between the 

 dark and light phases. On 3rd, 4th, 8th, and 9th August in 

 lat. 75 56' N. in the pack only dark birds were seen. On the 

 1 ith in lat. 75 50' N., long. 16 10' W., two dark and one very 

 small pale bird were seen ; and the latter, or a similar bird, 

 was seen on the following day off the Koldeway Islands. 

 This appears to be the last observation for the year 1906. 

 On the 17th of April 1908 in lat. 79 45' N. five or six dark 

 birds were observed on open spots in the ice. On the 20th, at 

 Mallemukfjeldet (lat. 8o 12' N.), Fulmars in hundreds 

 settled high upon the rock at their nesting-places. The 

 great majority of them were dark birds. On 9th and 10th 

 June, in lat. 8o 20' and 8o 10' N., Fulmars in great numbers, 

 much greater than before, were noticed, these still being 

 almost exclusively dark birds the reverse of what occurs 

 at St Kilda, the southern metropolis of the species. The 

 observations made during the return voyage of the expedition 

 confirmed those already quoted for the outward passage ; 

 and the conclusion arrived at by Manniche was that this 

 species appears in two forms, a southern pale and a northern 

 dark one, and that there may be deviations from the rule with 

 perhaps transitions from pale to dark. He is of opinion, from 

 the specimens he examined, that in the dark form the bill, 

 as a rule, is shorter and more slender, especially at the hook. 

 The dark form is also the predominant one in eastern 

 Arctic America ; and doubtless also in Novaya Zemlya, 

 whence I have not been able to find any satisfactory infor- 

 mation. It has been stated in more than one work that the 

 dark form predominates on the north coast of Iceland ; but 

 the Duchess of Bedford informs me that no dark birds came 

 under observation amongst the great numbers seen at 

 Grimsey in July 1910. 



