156 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. August 



While on shore I noticed a dovekie fly down from the 

 top of the cliffs, which rose about 800 feet above the 

 sea ; they evidently nest at that altitude. Captain 

 Feilden had long attributed a peculiar whizzing sound, 

 which we occasionally heard overhead when passing 

 under the shore cliffs, to the dovekies flying down to 

 the water ; but though they descended with extreme 

 rapidity, it was difficult to connect the loud rushing 

 sound of wind with the flight of such a small bird. 

 After passing Maury Bay we noticed dovekies in con- 

 siderable numbers in the pools of water near the ice- 

 foot, where they found apparently an ample supply of 

 food. 



On the 26th the weather remained very foggy. 

 Taking advantage of our forced delay a rich haul was 

 made with the trawl in fifty fathoms, giving us several 

 fishes, echinoderms, sponges, and mollusca. 



At 8 p.m. the ice permitted us to proceed one 

 and-a-half miles. Arriving at the end of the water- 

 channel the two ships were secured to a small iceberg 

 with a piece of ice lashed between them to keep them 

 from fouling each other. 



In my Journal I remark : — 



' Although there is no opening in the ice towards 

 the south-west, to the eastward, where we have lately 

 been able to advance only a mile or two at a time, 

 there is an open channel one or two miles broad. How 

 far it extends beyond Cape Hayes it is of course impos- 

 sible for us to determine. 



' During; this calm weather I can make little or 

 nothing out of the movements of the ice at certain 

 times of tide. It appears to follow no fixed laws here, 



