272 Mr. Wm. Eagle Clarke on the 



taken on the I'lth of August, 1896, was found to be 107°-1 F. 

 Of 23 Looms taken during August seven had fish-bones 

 in their stomachs, while sixteen had nothing. 



In 1897 the first Loom was seen on the 20th of March. 

 On the 7th of May, during an excursion to Mabel Island, 

 many Looms and Rotges were seen on the cliffs. There 

 were many Looms making a great noise on the rocks at 

 Cape Flora on the same date, and on the 16th they were in 

 full force on their breeding-ledges in the morning, but in 

 the afternoon there were few, and at night the clouds were 

 down to 300 feet, and all appeared to have left. This 

 visiting and leaving the cliffs continued throughout May 

 and part of June. On the 1st of July I went up the talus 

 (600 feet) and secured about fifty eggs. Some of the eggs 

 were resting in very wet places, but this the bird did not 

 seem to mind so long as it could get a place on a ledge of 

 these densely crowded rocks. There were thousands upon 

 thousands of Looms nesting on cliffs atthebackof Elmwood, 

 our station at Cape Flora, the whole place being alive with 

 them.— W. S. B.] 



20. "^Mergulus alle (Linn.). 



Payer, op. cit. ii. p. 91 ; Feilden, t. c. p. 109 ; Neale, 

 P. Z. S. 1882, pp. 652, 653 ; Nansen, op. cit. ii. pp. 308, 312, 

 320, 351, 403, 404, 410, 414, 438. 



The collection contains four Little Auks from Cape Flora 

 three of which were obtained on the 11th of April, 1895, and 

 one on the 27th of April, 1897. 



This is one of the commonest birds inhabiting Franz Josef 

 Land, where it is widely distributed. Dr. Neale found it 

 breeding in great numbers in the south on the lofty cliffs at 

 Gray Bay, also many at Cape Forbes; and Sir Clements 

 Markham (Proc. Roy. Geogr. Soc. iii. p. 133) mentions a 

 rookery at Bruce Island. 



Dr. Nansen observed it to the north-east of Franz Josef 

 Land, in lat. 82° N., on the 10th of June, 1895, and on the 

 26th of June many were seen in the same latitude. At 

 the Isles of Hvidtenland, on the 8th of August, a number 



