The snowy owl is a frequenter of Franz Josef Land, suggesting the presence of its favourite food, but lemmings were not met with. Snow buntings are widely spread over the islands, and remain from April to October, and the Lapland bunting also comes in smaller numbers in May, as well as the shore lark. Brent geese arrive in June, but the eider duck is rare. There are ptarmigan, first seen by members of the Zeigler expedition. The wading birds comprise turnstones, sanderlings, and two sandpipers. The very rare Ross’s gull was found by Nansen breeding in considerable numbers. The glaucous gull, fulmar, kittiwake, and arctic tern also visit the group, and the ivory gulls breed there abundantly. The red-throated diver comes, but is rare. Looms and dovekies visit the southern coast, and the little-auks are numerous. The whole number of species of birds visiting Franz Josef Land is 23, against 33 in Spitsbergen, and 43 in Novaya Zemlya. The Franz Josef group of islands may be considered geologically as part of Spitsbergen, both being fragments of the same continental land of Jurassic times[143]. The 143 miles of ice-covered sea between Cape Mary Harmsworth, the northernmost point of Alexandra Land, and Cape Leigh Smith on North-east Land has not yet been explored. The sea to the east of Wilczek and Graham Bell Islands is also unknown. During the period from August 1872 to the following February the _Tegethoff_ was drifted in a north-easterly direction from Cape Nassau of Novaya Zemlya, which is in longitude 62° E., to 71° 38′ E., a distance of about 125 miles, and from February to the next October, in latitude 79° N., she drifted westward until she reached the land ice on the south coast of Franz Josef. These drifts appear to have been due to the prevailing winds. The sea to the south of Franz Josef Land, between Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya, has received the name of the Barentsz Sea. Its greatest depth is 230 fathoms, and over the greater part of the area the depth is not more than 100 fathoms. The ice is always kept well out of sight of the European coast by the Atlantic current, and when the line of the pack is met with in about 74° N., it is found to be sufficiently loose for navigation northwards during some part of the summer, the general drift being to the westward, but varying with the winds. CHAPTER XXXIII THE ROUTE BY SMITH SOUND. KANE--HAYES--HALL--NARES--MARKHAM When my old messmate Admiral Sherard Osborn and I resolved to agitate until the Government was induced to dispatch another Arctic expedition, we selected the route of Sir Thomas Smith’s Channel as the one most likely to afford valuable scientific results. We strongly deprecated a mere rush for the North Pole, as not only useless in itself, but also as hindering important geographical work.