140 ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. 



caw, caw ; but this harmony is easily broken by casting 

 among them a piece of bkibber, too large to swallow, when 

 they commence an angry contest for the prize, and the most 

 courageous generally remains solitary at the feast. This 

 envious and rapacious disposition affords the sailors an 

 opportunity of amusing themselves, by tying two pieces of 

 blubber to the ends of a string, when a ridiculous scene 

 ensues ; one end being swallowed by one mallemuck, the 

 other is seized and perhaps gorged by another, and the 

 prize is thus several times alternately hauled out of each 

 other's throats. 



The immense numbers of these birds that annually resort 

 to Davis's Strait are surprising. Their probable breeding 

 haunts must be somewhere in the southern shores of Green- 

 land, or on the coasts about Hudson's Strait ; for it is 

 after coming into those latitudes that they are observed to 

 increase most in number. They are of importance to the 

 whale hunters, showing by their flight the retreats of that 

 animal ; and this indication is always relied on and followed. 

 The mallemuck possesses the sense of smeUing in a very 

 acute degree ; for if at any time not one of these birds is 

 to be seen, a small bit of blubber thrown overboard will 

 attract them immediately in great numbers. 



For a figure of this singular bird, see Plate XII., Fig. 2. 



Procellaria Gravis (the cape hen). — This familiar name is 



given by the sailors to a new species of petrel, seen only 



