104 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



the following day. On the 24th they were observed return- 

 ing from the westward. On the 25th there were plenty of 

 them on the cliffs at Cape Flora. On the 19th of May the 

 whole group of Kittiwakes — some five hundred or six 

 hundred — were sitting on the floes in the West Bay. I 

 went to the top of the talus on the 1st of July, with 

 Mr Jackson, in search of eggs, and got, among others, fifty 

 eggs of the Kittiwake and Loom. The Kittiwakes were 

 nesting among the Looms on the ledges, and their roughly- 

 made nests of grasses and mosses contained two eggs each. 

 The eggs proved to be considerably incubated, as did also 

 those of the Loom obtained at the same time. 



The Kittiwakes are here the victims of the Skuas and 

 Snowy Owls. The latter especially attack the young birds, 

 while the Skuas rob the old ones of their food. 



On the 16th of August the young Kittiwakes were not old 

 enough to fly, and the crew of the '•' Windward " captured 

 several on the rocks. On the 28th of August 1896, the 

 young Kittiwakes were already leaving their nests. I 

 labelled several of these, in case they should be captured 

 elsewhere. — W. S. B.] 



17. *Steiicorarius crepidatus (Gmel.). 



Long -tailed Kohber-Gull, Payer, op. cit., ii. p. 90. 

 i:tstris, Feilden, t. c, p. 209. 



Lesiris s^. incog., Neale, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1882, p. 654. 

 Stercorarius crepidatus and "Skuas," Nansen, op. cit., ii. pp. 326, 350, 

 414, 



There is, perhaps, some little doubt as to whether all the 

 Skuas that have been observed by the various explorers of 

 Franz Josef Land should be assigned to one species, namely, 

 the Arctic or Eichardson's Skua. Mr Bruce considers that 

 the Skua which nests at Cape Flora belongs to this species ; 

 and Dr Nansen tells us that the species seen by him was 

 Stercorarius crepidatus. The other writers named in the 

 bibliography given above were in doubt as to the identity of 

 the species which came under their notice. 



As yet we know little about this Skua and its distribution 

 in the archipelago. At Cape Flora,' in the south, it nests in 

 some numbers on the low lands near the shore. In the north- 



