Bh-ds of Western Spitzbei'gen. 1 73 



himself preparatory to a plunge, — presented a picture long to be 

 remembered by us. A fine breeze sprung up soon after and 

 carried us rapidly down the coast, and in the afternoon we began 

 to leave Syd Cap behind us. The weather still continued 

 beautiful ; and it was not until about eleven o'clock on the night 

 of the 8th that this wild and little-known land finally disap- 

 peared in the soft distance. The next morning we sighted 

 Bear Island, about which we found the Fulmars again plentiful ; 

 and on the afternoon of the 11th made Ingoe, off the coast of 

 Norway, about forty miles north of Hammerfest, where, after a 

 tiresome delay, when almost within sight of the island whereon 

 it stands- our vessel, the * Anna,' came to anchor on the evening 

 of the 13th. 



Of the sixteen species of birds observed by us in Spitzbergen, 

 there can be little doubt that, as we before said, the large Goose, 

 which we believe to have been the Grey-lag, was the only one 

 not noticed by Parry's expedition ; for doubtless the Ptarmigan 

 was by the members of it, as at first by us, thought to be only 

 the common species. Twenty-one species, however, are in- 

 cluded in J. C. Ross's list; and the six of them which did not 

 occur to us are — Ringed Plover {Charadrius hiaticula), a single 

 specimen only in Hecla Cove ; Fork-tailed Gull {Larus sabini), 

 seen only in Waygatz Strait, and no specimen obtained ; Cu- 

 neate-tailed Gull {Larus rossii), seen in Waygatz Strait, and on 

 the ice as far north as the expedition went (lat. 82° 45'), but 

 no specimen obtained; Pomarine Skua [Lestris pomarinus) , one 

 only seen in lat. 82° ; Red-throated Diver [Colymbus glacialis), no 

 locality mentioned; and Razor-bill Auk [Alca torda). The last 

 species may possibly have escaped our observation, but the Ringed 

 Plover and Pomarine Skua must be regarded only as accidental 

 stragglers ; the two Gulls appear to be confined in summer to 

 more northern latitudes than we reached, and the Red-throated 

 Diver is probably but scantily dispersed in the interior, which we 

 were unable to visit. We saw no birds of prey during the three 

 weeks of our stay in Spitzbergen ; nor could we hear from our 

 crew, who were well acquainted with the coast — our pilot alone 

 having made the voyage nineteen times — that any have ever been 

 found there. We have no reason to believe that there is any 



