168 A. L. V. Manniche. 



pleased when it appeared again still cautiously sailing very high in 

 the air and far out of gunshot range. Now and then it would dis- 

 appear among the swarming terns. On my arrival at the most 

 northerly point of the island suddenly 3 Sabine's Gulls appeared; 

 one of them immediately left the island and flew to an ice-berg 

 lying some 200 meters from it. The gulls were still shy and cauti- 

 ous, but their behaviour proved, that they were nesting on this 

 part of the island. The gull on the ice-herg soon left this and joi- 

 ned its two companions; then all three gulls went on with their 

 circling very high in the air while the swarming terns filled up its 

 lower regions. As my stay on the island neccesarily had to be of 

 short duration — not exceeding a couple of hours — I resolved to 

 secure one of the birds if possible. 



Having waited a short while I actually succeeded. 



The bird killed was a male with well marked breeding spots, 

 and having observed this I felt sure, that eggs or small young ones 

 could be found on the island and probably near the spot on which 

 I was standing. The fog had now cleared fully, and I was able to 

 use my field-glass. My companion and I retired to some low rocks, 

 lying some 200 meters from the spot, where I supposed the nests 

 to be. From my ambush I was able to study the behaviour of the 

 gulls through my field-glass. While the terns one by one would 

 soon go to their nests, which contained hard incubated eggs or 

 downy young ones, the two Sabine's Gulls kept circling for a long 

 while high in the air often attacked and pursued by the terns. 

 After half an hour the gulls seemed inclined to come down, but 

 still they kept flying cautiously around quite low for a while; until 

 finally one of them rushed down on its nest. I marked the spot 

 exactly and ran towards it. The gull flew off the nest as soon as 

 I appeared uttering some feeble husky cries or grunts, whereafter 

 both birds mounted to a great height again. 



I immediately found the nest, which contained two much incu- 

 bated eggs. Five meters from this nest I found another exactly of 

 the same type. 



Though empty it showed signs of having been in use not long 

 ago. Our zealous search for young ones was in vain. Some Nor- 

 wegian sealers had a week before visited Renskæret tor the purpose 

 of collecting eggs; they had certainly plundered the 7 nests of the 

 Ivory-Gulls and perhaps they may also have removed the eggs from 

 the one nest of Sabine's Gull. The two gulls were still extremely 

 shy; and it took an hour before I succeeded in securing them. They 

 were male and female and both of them had well-marked breeding 

 spots. 



