i8o THE GOLIEVSKI ISLANDS 



point of the beak was horn-colour, with the usual dark 

 vermilion spot on the angle of the lower mandible. The 

 pupils of the eye were blue-black, and the irides very pale 

 straw-yellow. The interior of the mouth was of the same 

 colour as the legfs and feet. The birds to whom the two 

 nests belonged were easily shot ; they made repeated 

 downward darts upon us like terns. The rest of the flock 

 kept well out of range, soon settling down at a point on 

 the extreme end of the island, and, on being fired at there, 

 flew right away. Among these glaucous gulls were two 

 immature birds and, one or two Siberian herring-gulls. 

 After the dispersion of the flock that had engaged all our 

 attention, we began to notice the presence of small parties 

 of sandpipers feeding about the island. They were very 

 wild, running about on the low, wet sandbanks which 

 rose hardly a couple of feet above high-tide level, and 

 about the margins of the little pools in the lower parts 

 of the island. Amono- them were some dunlins ; we 

 succeeded in shooting a couple of these, and one or two 

 sanderlings. These birds were peculiarly interesting to 

 us. We had scarcely hoped to come across them. We 

 saw no evidence, however, of their breeding upon the 

 island ; they seem to have settled upon it merely to feed. 

 The only nests we found were those of the glaucous gull. 

 The shores of the island were devoid of all material for 

 nest-building, except sand and a very slight quantity of 

 seaweed. A few whelks, some broken mussels, and 

 other bivalves lay sparingly scattered about ; with here 

 and there a few pieces of driftwood, and near the south 

 shore the decaying body of a seal, probably the harp seal. 

 At two o'clock we returned on board, and after a 

 couple of hours' sleep, we woke to find ourselves lying at 

 anchor in a thick fog that completely hid Island No. 3 

 from us. The sun, however, was shining brilliantly over- 



