The Mammalia and Birds of Franz Josef Land. 109 



[The Eotges appear to have left Cape Flora about the 

 14th of September in the autumn of 1896, and they returned 

 on the 9th of March 1897, for on that day I noticed their 

 brilliantly red droppings in the snow : this was the first 

 sign that the Eotges had returned, but we did not see 

 them on that day. On the 17th of March they were in 

 plenty at the G-ully Eocks, and, as far as could be seen, they 

 were all in full summer plumage. There were also many of 

 these birds observed on Windward and Mabel Islands during 

 the month. Like the Looms, the Eotges continually oc- 

 cupied and deserted their breeding-cliffs during April, May, 

 and early June. After the 10th of June the Little Auks 

 were seen on the rocks every day during our stay. They 

 bred in the cliffs, at both east and west ends, at Cape Flora 

 in great numbers, though most plentifully in the Gully 

 Eocks. Dr Koettlitz and I saw a good many in the cliffs 

 at Cape Forbes on the 24th of May.— W. S. B.] 



[?] Fratercula arctica (Linn.). 



Lieut. Payer {op. cit, ii. p. 91) mentions the " Lumme " 

 {Mormon arctims) as one of the birds "found in the 

 region between Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land . . . 

 most of these occurred also on the coasts of Franz Josef 

 Land." 



It is not probable that this bird was one of the species 

 observed on the coasts of this northern archipelago. It has 

 not come under the notice of any of the explorers who have 

 since visited Franz Josef Land ; and it is, moreover, a some- 

 what uncommon species on the west coast of Novaya Zemlya, 

 which seems to be the extreme limit of the Puffin's eastern 

 distribution in the European Polar area. It is, however, a 

 fairly common species in Western Spitzbergen. 



21. *COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS, Linn. 

 Neale, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1882, pp. 653, 654. 



The Eed-throated Diver had hitherto only come under the 

 notice of Dr Neale, among all the explorers of Franz Josef 



