32 COLLETT AND NANSEN. ACCOUNT OF THE BIRDS. [NORW. POL. EXP. 



On June 4th several were seen, and from that time they were seen almost 

 daily. On June 4th, one specimen was shot and eaten -- the first bird that 

 was brought down on the sledge-journey. As it was shot, it dropped out of 

 its mouth a large piece of blubber which it had probably taken from some 

 seal killed by a bear. On June 7th, another couple of these birds were shot 

 for food, but subsequently only a single one now and again was shot (as food 

 for the dogs), as they were too small to give sufficient food for the value of 

 a cartridge. 



On Hvidtenland, on the 7th August, many of them were seen sitting on 

 the edge of the glacier, and subsequently they were numerous along the NW 

 coast of Franz Josef Land. At the winter hut, during the autumn, there were 

 great numbers of them. They were chiefly old birds. Young birds were not 

 seen before the beginning of September, and even then they were compara- 

 tively few. This fact may, however, indicate that there has been some 

 nesting-place within no great distance; but none was seen. They continued 

 to appear at the winter hut until the beginning of October, when all water had 

 long been frozen over. Like L. glaucus, they daily perched upon the roof 

 of the hut to peck at the blubber, often in great numbers, and it was very 

 difficult to protect the stores against their attacks. When the travellers were 

 inside the hut, they could easily distinguish the quick pecking of the ivory 

 gulls from the slower, but stronger tapping of L. glauctis. 



After the winter the first were seen as early as March 12th, 1896, 

 when five came flying from the SE and perched on the cliff west of the hut. 

 On April 5th, some more appeared, although no open water was to be seen 

 in any direction. On that day, the first gull also paid a visit to the hut, 

 but at first they were not so bold as they had been in the autumn, and it 

 was some time before they acquired the same audacity. It could be seen 

 by the track in the snow, that this first bird had alighted on the ground 

 near the hut, and had walked a short distance without daring to approach 

 the bear-skins and stores lying close to the hut. On April 9th, many ivory 

 gulls were seen, and it was now not long before they regularly visited the 

 roof of the hut, and the stores outside it, as they had done in the autumn, 

 though not now in quite such large numbers. 



They were seen frequently on the journey south towards Gape Flora, 

 though never in great abundance. During the long journey over the ice 



