104 SoutJicrii Cross. 



York Island. What interested me most was that they had found a 

 number of Seals, but no young, neither did they find any females with 

 embryos. 



August 29fh. — Ole killed yesterday two females of Weddell's Seal, but 

 without embryos. One was a young animal, so this perhaps has had 

 none, but the other was an old animal. I cannot understand where the 

 young are. 



September 3rd. — ^To-day brought me a solution of the question, as to where 

 Weddell's Seal breeds, as they have found embryos, nearly ready for birth, 

 in a couple of Seals of this species which they killed, and also a young one, 

 which they had found on the ice. This appeared, however, not to be quite 

 fully born, as it had not the covering-hair, peculiar to the young Seal. In 

 one of the Seals they killed to-day, they found an embryo four feet long, 

 with fully-developed covering-hair. Among the contents of the stomachs 

 they found only little fish, but in several were fragments of a red Cray- 

 fish, of which they brought me a tolerably well-preserved specimen. Every 

 time they approached one of these animals, especially the females, they gave 

 out an angry roar like that of a bvdl, which we never have heard before 

 here. Only in April we heard this roar now and again, when the animals 

 were in the sea. They saw not a single W^hite Seal in their trip (to Duke 

 of York Island), so where this Seal now dwells is still a mystery. Perhaps 

 Evans will find it out when he starts on his next expedition. I am, 

 unfortunately, still unable to move about. Kolbein saw a brown-backed 

 Petrel {T. antarctica) outside the house last night. 



September 5th. — Yesterday and to-day I have been busy, drawing and 

 measuring the Cray-fish which Evans and Fougner brought me, and 

 examining the embryos. The head of the young Seal which Borchgre- 

 vink found, they also brought me, and, by its long woolly hair, it must 

 have been full-born, but probably killed by the dogs. 



September lOth. — The Seals are begiiuiing to return here again now 

 and to-morrow Fougner is going out to kill some for food. 



September I'ith. — Yesterday they observed some Pagodroma nivea on 

 Duke of York Island. They kept about 1000 feet up in the mountain, 

 and when they flew they played about in pairs, incessantly giving vent 

 to the before-mentioned sound, " kaw-kaw," but they were perfectly silent 

 when sitting on the rocks. They have also found a new species of fish, 

 and also the backbone of a very lai'ge fish and some beaks of Octoj)us in 

 the stomachs of some Weddell's Seals they had killed. Four of these 

 had full-grown embryos, which were fully capable of living after they 

 came on the ice. Even if we should get no other proofs, I think this 

 jvTstifies me in putting the breeding-season for Weddell's Seal as September, 

 and this would agree with what I before have said about February being 

 the season of pairing. Besides the new fishes, they have also caught some 

 of the broad-headed bottom fishes which are common here. The temperature 

 in the surface of the sea whei^e they fished was -)- 28*6 Fahr.,and the new 

 species of fish was caught only about one-half fathom (three feet) below 

 the surface. 



September lith. — To-day something of great zoological interest hap- 

 pened. Fougner found a male White Seal far up in the land (about 

 500 metres) under the mountain. As he was very savage and wanted to 

 attack Fougner when he approached him, he had to return to the hut 

 and call Evans to come to his assistance with a rifle. They brought me 



