46 COLLETT AND NANSEN. ACCOUNT OF THE BIRDS, [norw. POL. EXP, 



The two specimens shot were both preserved, and are now in the Zoo- 

 logical Museum in Christiania. They appear to have been male and female, 

 and to have been a pair. The one that is probably the female, is larger and 

 more brightly coloured than the other; the whole of the under surface of the 

 body is bright red, without any lighter feathers. The upper surface of the 

 head is of a uniform black, the sides of the head and the broad band towards 

 the nape pure white. 



The colours of the male are not so pure. The feathers on the middle 

 of the belly are whitish, the crown has red-edged feathers, and the eye region 

 is of a dull white colour. 



a. Wing, 136 mm.; tail, 67 mm. 



b. Wing, 130 mm. ; tail, 63 mm. 



Somateria mollissima, (Lin.) 1766. 



On June 19th, 1896, two eider ducks were shot north of Spitsbergen 

 (82 55' N. Lat.). They were male and female; they came flying up from 

 the south, and settled in one of the channels in the ice. The ice that day 

 was pretty closely packed. Both specimens were old and full-coloured. 



No other specimens were seen in the ice. 



Sterna macrura, Naum. 1819. 



A single tern was observed during the summer of 1895 (June 21st), 

 when the 'Fram' was in 84o 32' N. Lat., 80° 30' E. Long. It came so 

 close to the ship, that Sverdrup was able to send a shot after it. As previ- 

 ously mentioned (p. 25), Nansen saw a pair of these birds in the beginning 

 of August of the same year, somewhat farther south (north of Hvidtenland). 



Similarly, north of Spitsbergen, a single specimen was seen on June 9th, 

 1896, in 83° 1' N. Lat. Neither this species, nor Larus glaucus, seemed to 

 frequent the open channels north of these large islands where they breed. 



Larus glaMCus, Fabr. 1780. 



This species was not observed with certainty from the 'Fram' during 

 the summer of 1895, north-east of Franz Josef Land. On June 12th, a large 



