173 
Birds of Western Spitzbergen. 
himself preparatory to a plunge,—presented a picture long to be 
remembered by us. A fine breeze sprung up soon after and 
carried us rapidly down the coast, and in the afternoon we began 
to leave Syd Cap behind us. The weather still continued 
beautiful; and it was not until about eleven o’clock on the night 
of the 8th that this wild and little-known land finally disap¬ 
peared in the soft distance. The next morning we sighted 
Bear Island, about which we found the Fulmars again plentiful; 
and on the afternoon of the 11th made Ingoe, off the coast of 
Norway, about forty miles north of Hammerfest, where, after a 
tiresome delay, when almost within sight of the island whereon 
it stands, our vessel, the ( Anna/ came to anchor on the evening 
of the 13th. 
Of the sixteen species of birds observed by us in Spitzbergen, 
there can be little doubt that, as we before said, the large Goose, 
which we believe to have been the Grey-lag, was the only one 
not noticed by Parry’s expedition; for doubtless the Ptarmigan 
was by the members of it, as at first by us, thought to be only 
the common species. Twenty-one species, however, are in¬ 
cluded in J. C. Boss’s list; and the six of them which did not 
occur to us are—Binged Plover ( Charadrius hiaticula), a single 
specimen only in Hecla Cove; Fork-tailed Gull [Larus sabini ), 
seen only in Waygatz Strait, and no specimen obtained; Cu- 
neate-tailed Gull [Larus rossii) } seen in Waygatz Strait, and on 
the ice as far north as the expedition went (lat. 82° 45'), but 
no specimen obtained; Pomarine Skua (. Lestrispomarinus) } one 
only seen in lat. 82°; Bed-throated Diver ( Colymbus glacialis) } no 
locality mentioned; and Bazor-bill Auk [Alca torda ). The last 
species may possibly have escaped our observation, but the Binged 
Plover and Pomarine Skua must be regarded only as accidental 
stragglers; the two Gulls appear to be confined in summer to 
more northern latitudes than we reached, and the Bed-throated 
Diver is probably but scantily dispersed in the interior, which we 
were unable to visit. We saw no birds of prey during the three 
weeks of our stay in Spitzbergen; nor could we hear from our 
crew, who were well acquainted with the coast—our pilot alone 
having made the voyage nineteen times—that any have ever been 
found there. We have no reason to believe that there is any 
