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



condition of the ice. If the ice were open, they were numerous; if it were 

 closed up, none were seen. 



Off Hvidtenland they were not seen, on the whole, in very great numbers ; 

 and on these glacier-covered islands, there are no places for a colony. The 

 first colony seen during the journey, was on the east and north sides of Torup 

 Island (Coburg Islands), on August 16th. They were here nesting on the 

 cliffs, above Larus glaucus. The number of birds in this colony amounted 

 to thousands (81 33' N. Lat.). 



This is certainly not the most northerly colony on Franz Josef Land. 

 Nansen saw many basaltic cliffs on Crown Prince Rudolf Land, which would 

 evidently afford good nesting-places for them, e. g. Cape Brorok. As referred 

 to above (p. 38), Payer mentions in his report of the Austrio-Hungarian 

 North Pole Expedition of 18721874, that in April, 1873, he found thousands 

 of "Alken, Tauchern und Teisten" on the cliffs in Crown Prince Rudolf Land, 

 in 81 44' N. Lat. ('Cape Auk') 1 . It is probable that this means principally 

 Alle alle (probably also a small number of Cepphus mandti). 



During the journey south along the north-west coast of Franz Josef Land, 

 colonies were found established on almost every cliff that could afford them 

 a nesting-place. They were found, for instance (besides on Torup Island), 

 in great numbers on Cape Felder, where, on August 16th, they had young 

 ones scarcely ready to fly; on Cape Helland on August 18th (81 24' N. Lat.), 

 and in several places on Frederick Jackson Island, Cape Hugh Mill, the cliffs 

 above, west, and east of the winter hut, on Steinen, west of the winter hut, 

 and in the fjord farther in. 



Next they were found (on May 23rd, 1896) on Cape M'Clintock, and (on 

 June 6th, 1896) on Cape Richthofen. Cape Fisher, on the other hand, 

 appears to be inhabited exclusively, or almost exclusively, by Uria lomvia 

 (and Fulmarus glacialis). 



South of the last-named promontory, the birds did not seem to occur in 

 such large numbers; but, as already mentioned by Clarke and Bruce 2 , they 

 have settlements on Cape Flora and in several places in the southernmost 

 parts of the group of islands. 



1 Payer, 'Die Osterreich-ungarische Nordpol-Expedition 18721874', p. 325. Vienna, 1876. 

 a The Ibis, 1898, p. 272. 



