XXXVl MEMOIR. 



fugitives betook themselves on the destruction of their home, and 

 the more distant Geirfugladrangr, on which there was the best liope 

 of finding any survivors if snch there might be. At Kyrkjuvogr we 

 remained, with scarcely an exception, for two months in vain waiting 

 for weather when a landing on even the nearest of these rocks would 

 be practicable. Two seaworthy eight-oared boats and their stalwart 

 crews were engaged, and were prepared to put off on the shortest 

 notice — night or day — should wind or sea be favourable ; but that 

 never came to pass, for, owing to the constantly unsettled state of 

 the weather, not a single opportunity presented itself when, according 

 to the experience of Viljalmur Hakonarsson, who had led the latest 

 expedition to Eldey, and was to be our captain, it would have been 

 in any degree possible to reach the rocks. The country around 

 possessed but few attractions for the ornithologist ; but Wolley was 

 indefatigable in seeking and recording information from the mouths 

 of men who had formerly visited the skerries, and succeeded in pro- 

 curing many interesting particulars relating to the bird, especially 

 of the trip to Eldey in 1844, when the last two living examples of 

 the species were caught ^. A considerable number of bones of the 

 species, found at various places along the coast, were also found by 

 us, and as no skeleton was at that time known to exist, these Avere 

 naturally treasured ; but nearly all being from old kitchen- middens, 

 many were mutilated. These were the practical and disappointing 

 results of the voyage ; and, after a hasty visit to the Geysers, we 

 returned to England, calling on the way home, as we had in going 

 out, at Thorshavn in the Faeroes, where Wolley not only renewed 

 his former acquaintance with his old friend Sysselmand Miillcr 

 and others, but obtained further useful information respecting the 

 subject to which he was devoting himself. 



Soon after his arrival in England, Wolley began to find his general 

 health, which had hitherto been exceedingly good, failing, without 

 any apparent reason. He suffered from languor, at times to a most 

 painful degree, and his former energy seemed to have departed from 



* Of the fourteen men who took part in this expedition, he saw and took down 

 the evidence of twelve — the remaining two were dead. An abstract of Wolley 's 

 Researches in Iceland on this subject was printed in ' The Ibis ' for IdGl 

 (pp. 374-399). 



