VII.] 
THE FAUNA OF A ROCKY ISLAND. 
321 
birds’ powers of vision, of locomotion, and of apprehension. It 
is difficult in any case to understand what it is that attracts this 
insectivorous bird to one of the regions that is poorest in insect 
life in the whole world. The glaucous gulls’ plunderer, the 
skua, and its chastiser the bold tern, were also observed, as were a 
few barnacle geese. On the other hand, no eiders were met with. 
All the birds named occurred only in inconsiderable numbers, and 
THE VEGA AND LENA MOORED TO AN ICE-FLOE. 
On the morning of the 12th August, 1878. (After a drawing by O. Nordquist.) 
there was nothing found here resembling the life which prevails 
on a Spitzbergen fowl-island. Finally, it may be mentioned 
that Lieutenant Nordquist found under stones and pieces of 
drift-wood a few insects, among them a beetle (a staphylinid). 
Dr. Stuxberg afterwards found a specimen of the same insect 
species at Cape Chelyuskin itself. No beetle is found on Spitz¬ 
bergen, though the greater portion of that group of islands is, 
in respect of climate, soil, and vegetation, much better favoured 
Y 
