416 Chapter VII. 



in length, with dark mottled grey plumage on the 

 back and wings ; the breast and under-side white, with a 

 scarcely perceptible tinge of orange-red, and round the 

 neck a dark ring sprinkled with grey." At a somewhat 

 later age this mottled plumage disappears ; they then 

 become blue on the back, with a black ring round the 

 neck, while the breast assumes a delicate pink hue. 

 Some few days afterwards (August 6th and 8th) some 

 more of these birds were shot, making eight specimens 

 in all. 



While time was passing on, the plan I had been 

 revolving in my mincl during the winter was ever upper- 

 most in my thoughts the plan, that is to say, of ex- 

 ploring the unknown sea apart from the track in which the 

 Frain was drifting. I kept an anxious eye upon the 

 dogs, for fear anything should happen to them, and also 

 to see that they continued in good condition, for all my 

 hopes centered in them. Several of them, indeed, had 

 been bitten to death, and two had been killed by bears ; 

 but there were still twenty-six remaining, and as a set- 

 off against our losses we had the puppies, eight of which 

 had been permitted to live. As spring advanced, they 

 were allowed to roam the deck, but on May 5th their 

 world was considerably extended. I wrote thus : "In 

 the afternoon we let the puppies loose on the ice, and 

 ' Kvik ' at once took long expeditions with them to fami- 

 liarise them with their surroundings. First she introduced 

 them to our meteorological apparatus, then to the bear- 



