38 COLLETT AND NANSEN. ACCOUNT OF THE BIRDS. [NORW. POL. EXP. 



pair of fulmars) for food. The next day another was shot (82 15' N. Lat.) ; 

 but after that, only a single one was observed flying southwards over the 

 camp, on August llth, half-way between Hvidtenland and Franz Josef Land. 

 All through the journey south along the NE side of Karl Alexander Land, 

 and up to the winter spent on Frederick Jackson Island, not a single spe- 

 cimen was seen. 



The apparent total absence of these birds in the northern part of Franz Josef 

 Land aroused Nansen's attention, as Payer, in the report of the Tegethoff 

 Expedition and the sledge-journey to the most northerly limits of Franz Josef 

 Land, mentions finding "Alken, Tauchern und Teisten" 1 in the English 

 edition wrongly translated "auks and divers" 2 in great numbers at Cape 

 Auk in Crown Prince Rudolf Land. One reason why Nansen did not believe 

 he was near Crown Prince Rudolf Land was just that he found none of those 

 guillemots which were said to be found there in thousands. It is therefore 

 probable that the word "Alken'' ("auks") has by some mistake come into 

 Payer's description, and that he has meant nothing but little auks and black 

 guillemots or dovekies (Teist); and it is not improbable that Uria lomvia 

 really has no nesting-place on this northern part of the group of islands. 



They were never observed at the winter hut (Frederick Jackson Island), 

 either in 1896 or 1896. During the journey south, they were seen for the 

 first time south of Cape M'Clintock and Mary Elizabeth Island, in the early 

 days of June ; and on June 3rd (1896), a numerous colony of them was seen 

 a few kilometres farther south at Cape Fisher, in 81 N. Lat. It is possible 

 that this is their most northerly nesting-place on Franz Josef Land. Cape 

 Fisher is a basalt cliff almost 900 feet high, rising perpendicularly out of the 

 sea; and here there were thousands of Uria lomvia living, and flocks were 

 incessantly flying to and from the open water, which was only a kilometre 

 or two off. There seemed to have been open water right up to the 



1 "Wir fanden jetzt alle Felswander des Kronprinz Rudolphs Landes mit Tausenden 

 von Alken, Tauchern und Teisten besetzt. Ungeheuere Schwiirnie erheben sich, und 

 alles Land, auf das die Sonne schien [April, 1874, 81 44' N. Lat.], belebte das leiden- 

 schaftlichen Schwirme der beginnenden Brutzeit". Payer, 'Oesterreich-Ungarische Nord- 

 pol-Expedition 18721874', p. 325. Vienna, 1876. 



2 Payer, 'New Lands within the Arctic Circle', vol. II, p. 154. London, 1876. The right 

 translation should evidently have been: "guillemots, little auks, and dovekies", cf. 

 ibid. vol. II, p. 91. 



