98 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



Although this species is undoubtedly a summer visitor to 

 Franz Josef Land, yet there appears to be no information 

 regarding its breeding ; nor do we know much concerning it 

 as a bird of the archipelago. Dr Neale merely includes 

 the Arctic Tern in his list of birds observed in the south 

 during Mr Leigh Smith's second visit, but without remark. 

 Dr Nansen only once mentions this bird in his diary, 

 namely, on the 8th of August 1895, when two "Terns" 

 were seen off the Isles of Hvidtenland. The Arctic Tern 

 in all probability nests in Franz Josef Land, but it has 

 not yet been found breeding by any of the explorers of the 

 archipelago. 



[On the 6th of August 1896, I saw a pair of Terns at the 

 end of Windy Gully, Cape Flora ; and on the 24th of June 

 1897, 1 saw two pairs of Arctic Terns at the west end of Cape 

 Flora. Mr Jackson shot a pair of these later in the day, a 

 male and a female. These were the only occasions on which 

 I saw Terns in Franz Josef Land. I saw a pair when off the 

 east of Spitzbergen. — W. S. B.] 



13. Ehodostethia rosea, Macgil. 



Payer, op. city i. p. 285, ii. p. 91 ; Nansen, op. cit., ii. pp. 270, 272, 

 282, 283, 295, 297, 298. 



When the Austrian explorers in the "Tegetthof" were 

 drifting in the ice south of Franz Josef Land, in the latter 

 part of the summer of 1873, they were fortunate enough to 

 obtain a specimen of the rare Eoss's Gull. This fact led 

 ornithologists to surmise that in these new Arctic lands 

 might be found, perhaps, one of the long-sought breeding- 

 haunts of this interesting bird. 



The experience of Dr Nansen and his companion Lieut. 

 Johansen in north-eastern Franz Josef Land during the 

 summer of 1895 practically demonstrates that this Gull 

 breeds in considerable numbers in that portion of the 

 archipelago. During their long and arduous sledge-journey 

 over the polar ice, they first observed this bird when 

 approaching Franz Josef Land from the north-east. The 

 first example, an adult, was seen on the 14th of July. After 



