THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 219.— March, 1895. 



A FLYING VISIT TO SPITSBERGEN. 

 By Colonel H. W. Feilden, C.M.Z.S. 



The record of a run across from Norway, and a visit of 

 a few days to Spitsbergen last summer, hardly deserves to occupy 

 space in the pages of this journal, inasmuch as the trip was made 

 chiefly with the object of communicating with the depot of the 

 American Polar Expedition on Danes Island, and with little regard 

 to zoological observation. The 'Saide,' R.Y.S., on board of 

 which I was a guest of the late Captain Townley Parker, is an 

 auxiliary steam yacht of 383 tons, 50 horse-power, iron frame- 

 planked, but was in no way prepared for contact with ice. Four 

 days' steaming from Bergen through the Norwegian fiords, with 

 their glorious scenery, brought us to Tromsoe, where we anchored 

 on June 27th, in splendid weather. In the inner waters of the 

 Norwegian coast we saw considerable numbers of Red-throated 

 Divers, in full breeding plumage, sometimes in pairs, more 

 frequently single birds. I noted between Bergen and Tromsoe 

 Larus marinus, L.fuscus, L. argentatus, L. canus, Rissa tridactyla, 

 Sterna macrura, Mormon f rater cula, Uria grylle, and a few pairs 

 of Stercorarius crepidatus. Eider Ducks were numerous at some 

 stations. I once saw a solitary Eagle, and the impression left was 

 the general poverty of bird-life in the fiords. About sixty miles 

 south of Tromsoe, the fiord, which is very narrow, winds through 

 a lovely, and, near the shore, well-cultivated country. Between 

 latitudes 68° and 69° N. the shores are laid out in hay-fields ; we 

 saw neat farm-houses, churches, and pretty dwellings. The hill- 

 sides in the back-ground are clad with foliage, chiefly birch. At 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XIX. — MARCH, 1895. H 



