The Mammalia and Birds of Franz Josef Land. 107 



bird some way to the north-east of the archipelago, in 

 lat. 82° 19' K 



[The Looms began to come down from the cliffs at Cape 

 Flora on the 13th of August 1896, and the descent lasted 

 until August 24th. Several old birds came down with one 

 young one ; indeed, I have seen as many as five accompanying 

 it. It is a bold flight to take, for the cliffs where they are 

 cradled are from 600 to 800 feet above sea-level, and these 

 young birds are not able to sustain their own weight during 

 so long an essay, but gradually come lower and lower until 

 they strike with a heavy thud on the floe or land. Some 

 quickly recover themselves and hurry away as fast as they 

 can to the open water, while others are harried by the Burgo- 

 masters {Lams glauciis) ; and those that are killed afford 

 food for the bears. Many of the young seem to perish, but 

 perhaps this is due to the large number of old ones that 

 had recently been shot for food, namely, over 1400 for 

 winter stores. 



On the 25th of August I captured, labelled, and set free 

 nineteen young Looms, but have not yet heard that any of 

 them have been captured. The temperature of a young Loom 

 taken on the 14th of August 1896 was found to be 107°'l F. 

 Of twenty -three 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 Eotges 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 at the back of Elmwood, 



