414 Chapter VII. 



to another were so small that at the respective depths 

 they often merely amounted to the two-hundredth part of 

 a degree. Occasionally the temperature of the warm 

 strata mounted even higher than mentioned here. Thus 

 on October i/th at 300 metres it was + crS5, at 

 350 metres + 076, at 400 metres -\- 078, and at 500 

 metres -J- o'62, after which it sank evenly until, towards 

 the bottom, it again rose as before. 



We had not expected to meet with much bird life in 

 these desolate regions. Our surprise, therefore, was not 

 small when on Whit Sunday, May I3th, a gull paid us a 

 visit. After that date w r e regularly saw birds of different 

 kinds in our vicinity, till at last it became a daily occur- 

 rence, to which we did not pay any particular attention. 

 For the most part they were ice mews (larus eburneus), 

 kittiwakes (rissa tridactyld], fulmars (procellariaglacialis), 

 and now and then a blue gull (/. glaucus], a herring gull 

 (/. argent atus ?), or a black guillemot (uria grylle] ; once 

 or twice we also saw a skua (probably lest r is parasitic a), 

 (for instance, on July I4th). On July 2ist we had a visit 

 from a snow bunting. 



On August 3rd a remarkable occurrence took place, 

 we were visited by the Arctic rose gull (rhodostethia rosea). 

 I wrote as follows about it in my diary : "To-day my 

 longing has at last been satisfied. I have shot Ross's 

 gull," : three specimens in one day. This rare and 



This gull is often called by this name, after its first discoverer. It 

 has acquired its other name, "rose gull," from its pink colour. 



