392 AUK-CATCHING. 



While I was watching these movements with much 

 interest, my companion was intent only upon business, 

 and warned me to lie lower, as the birds saw me and 

 were flying too high overhead. Having at length 

 got myself stowed away to the satisfaction of my 

 savage companion, the sport began. The birds were 

 beginning again to whirl their flight closer to our 

 heads, — so close, indeed, < did they come that it 

 seemed almost as if I could catch them with my cap. 

 Presently, I observed my companion preparing him- 

 self as a flock of unusual thickness was approaching ; 

 and, in a moment, up went the net ; a half dozen 

 birds flew bang into it, and, stunned with the blow, 

 they could not flutter out before Kalutunah had 

 slipped the staff quickly through his hands and 

 seized the net ; with his left hand he now pressed 

 down the birds, while with the right he drew them 

 out, one by one ; and, for want of a third hand, he 

 used his teeth to crush their heads. The wings were 

 then locked across each other, to keep them from flut- 

 tering away ; and, with an air of triumph, the old fel- 

 low looked around at me, spat the blood and feathers 

 from his mouth, and went on with the sport, tossing 

 up his net and hauling it in with much rapidity, until 

 he had caught about a hundred birds ; when, my curi- 

 osity being amply satisfied, we returned to camp and 

 made a hearty meal out of the game which we had 

 bagged in this novel and unsportsman-like manner. 

 While an immense stew was preparing, Kalutunah 

 amused himself with tearing off the birds' skins, and 

 consuming the raw flesh while it was yet warm. 



Our stay at the glacier was brought suddenly to an 

 end by a violent storm of wind and snow, and both 

 ourselves and our Esquimau companions were forced 



