NO. 4.] THE LAST TWO SUMMERS IN THE ICE. 49 



force her way out of the ice above Spitsbergen ; but in the hard work of 

 those days, no note was made of the date. The observation was communi- 

 cated to others of the crew, and its authenticity is beyond doubt. 



Pagophila eburnea, (Phipps) 1774. 



This species was seen almost up to 85° N. Lat. 



On May 14th, 1895, in 84° 38', a bird, supposed to have been a P. 

 eburnea, was seen flying from the north-north-east towards the south. This 

 was the first bird that appeared in the spring of that year. The first un- 

 doubted specimen was seen on the 2nd June (in the same latitude) by Scott- 

 Hansen. In the course of the summer they were seen singly several times, 

 and altogether three specimens were shot in the beginning of July. But they 

 did not appear to frequent this part of the ice in any great numbers. 



The last specimens, two together, were noted on the 10th July. 



In ;the summer of 1896, north of Spitsbergen, the first two specimens 

 were seen flying above the ice-channels on May 13th (83° 50' N. Lat.). 



By degrees they became exceedingly numerous, and after the middle of 

 June, they were seen daily, sometimes in small flocks. They were always 

 to be found at the refuse-heaps, or by the bears' carcases, and a number of 

 specimens were shot in the course of the summer; in and about the beginning 

 of August alone, forty-one were shot, fourteen of them upon one day (July 29). 



? Stercorariiis longicaiudMS, (Vieill.) 1819. 



During the summer of 1895, skuas were only seen in the ice to the north- 

 east of Franz Josef Land, on one occasion, namely, the 4th September. On that 

 day four or five specimens were observed, and one of them was shot at, but 

 without result (84° 47' N. Lat., 77° 17' E. Long.). Scott-Hansen, who came 

 fairly close to them, took them to be St. longicaudus, on account of the 

 "veiy long tail-feathers". 



These specimens were the last birds observed that year. 



North of Spitsbergen, the species was not observed with certainty. On June 

 10th, Scott-Hansen saw in the distance two skuas flying over the ship in 

 a north-north-westerly direction, and thought they must belong to one of 

 the smaller species. 



