THE LONG-TAILED HAEELD. 343 



faction, and purred and gambolled about tbe vessel. 

 Their food afterwards consisted of grits alone. But the 

 best intentions are at times the cause of the greatest 

 misfortunes ; and so it happened in this instance. Mrs. 

 Fiildin Avould treat her little favourites to some fresh 

 grass. This was eaten by them with avidity ; but in the 

 space of three hours afterwards one and all of them died 

 in convulsions, most probably in consequence of some 

 poisonous plants being amongst the herbage. Mrs. Fiildin 

 bewailed greatly over her progeny, which were always 

 lively and joyous, and declared that from the moment of 

 missing them their foster brothers, the kittens, suffered 

 greatly both in health and spirits." 



The Long-tailed Hareld {Alfogel, Sw. ; lis- And, i. e. 

 ice-duck, Norw. ; Sarelda glacialis, Steph.), whose proper 

 home is the Arctic regions — in Lapland, Iceland, Green- 

 land, Spitsbergen, for instance — was very common 

 during spring and fall in our " Skiirgard." Once in a 

 time, indeed, stragglers, probably wounded birds, were 

 seen in the summer, but it is believed to nest only in 

 the more northern parts of the Peninsula, and that nearly 

 as high up as the North Cape itself. Some wintered 

 with us, and many on the coasts of Denmark, in which 

 country, according to Kja^rbolHng, it has been known to 

 nidificate. It would appear to be a very hardy bird, and 

 quite indifferent to cold, and that it is ice alone which 

 causes it to migrate to more southern climes. " When 

 the sea freezes during severe winters," says M. Wilhelm 

 von Wright, speaking of the island of Oroust, " a large 

 portion of these birds leave us, but some remain in the 

 open water caused by strong currents. It seems even 

 then unwilling to depart from the coast, for one finds it 

 at such times in considerable numbers about the outer- 

 most of the islands — where, owing to the constant I'ise and 

 falls of the waves, the ice is ground almost to powder — 



