378 Mr. A. Newton on Mr. J. Wolley’s Researches 
‘ Geirfuglasker 9 (Gare-fowl skerry) occurring in three different 
places. The most eastern is situated some thirty miles from the 
coast, off the island of Papey, and the entrance of BerufjorSr, 
about lat. 64° 35' N., and long. 26° W. (of Greenwich), and 
is commonly known to Danish sailors as Hvalsbak (Whale's- 
back). The most southern is one of the Vestmannaeyjar (West- 
man Islands), in about lat. 63° 20' N., and long. 33° 5' W. The 
most western is off Cape Reykjanes, in about lat. 63 0 4Cf N., 
and long. 35° 50' W. It was accordingly our first object to 
ascertain how far these spots now deserved the name they bore. 
On making all the inquiries we were able on our arrival at 
Reykjavik, we could obtain no recent information respecting the 
eastern skerry, of which we had, at starting, entertained most 
hopes. It appeared also that, of the travellers who in the last cen¬ 
tury had published accounts of their journeys in Iceland, Olafsen 
and Olavius only had alluded to this isolated rock as a station for 
the bird*, though another of them, the Pseroese, Mohr, was in 
1781 for no less than two months at Djupivogr, on the mainland 
opposite, engaged in the pursuit of natural history f. We there¬ 
fore decided we would not attempt the journey thither, at the 
risk of missing w r hat seemed abetter chance—that of finding the 
object of our search in the neighbourhood of the western locality, 
where examples of the bird were known to have been last ob¬ 
tained. At the same time, we thought it highly desirable that 
this eastern Geirfuglasker should be visited, and through the in¬ 
tervention of several kind friends, we at last met with a gentle¬ 
man who was willing, for a suitable recompense, to undertake the 
toilsome, not to say dangerous, expedition. To dismiss this part 
of the subject at once, I may here say that our envoy, Herr Can- 
didatus-Theologise Eirikur Magnusson, a native of that district, 
reached Berufjorbr in the month of June, and then, taking a 
boat, proceeded to the island, round which he rowed, quite close 
enough to satisfy himself that there were no Gare-fowls on it; 
* Reise igiennem Island, &c. af Eggert Olafsen. Soroe, 1772, p. 750. 
Oeconomisk Reyse igiennem de nordvestlige, nordlige, og nordostlige 
Ranter af Island ved Olaus Olavius, &c. Kjobenhavn, 1780, ii. p. 547. 
t Forsog til en Islandsk Naturhistorie, &c., ved N. Mohr. Kiobenhavn, 
1786, p.333. 
