Extracts from Diary of Nicolai Hanson. 99 



Ajjril 'l^Hli. — Tlie doctor, Colbeck, and I took a walk this forenoon 

 round on the beach. We found three Heart Urchins ^ and a Sponge — 

 both species quite new to me. Some Seals and birds have been observed 

 to-day of the same species as yesterday. 



April 26th. — Some birds have been seen to-day of the same species 

 as those of the last days. To-night, at 9 p.m., I heard just above my 

 head a bird cry four or five times. The note sounded like "Kaw-kaw." 

 It was too dark to see the bird ; but it was the cry of the Pagodroma. 

 I had heard it before on the 30th of last month. 



April 28th. — I killed two Ice Petrels to-day while out for a walk. 



April 29th. — Walked on the beach to-day. Found three animals like 

 Sand Worms four to six inches long.- They were transparent, with 

 brown stripes or bands, one millimeter in breadth, and a number of feet 

 like the Millipedes. Some Ice Petrels seen to-day. 



April 30th. — Killed two male Leptonychotes and thi-ee Ice Petrels. 



May 3rd. — This afternoon an Emperor Penguin came to us and was 

 immediately attacked and killed by our savage dogs and torn so badly 

 that the skin was of no use for the collection, but I preserved the 

 skeleton.^ 



May 5th. — The Finns killed two large female Seals on the ice to-day. 

 Only one had an embryo, 55 centimeters long. This had fully developed 

 light and dark spots on the skin, but no hair anywhere except on the 

 nose. It was preserved. Several other Seals were seen, amongst them a 

 Lohodon. Some birds of the species lately observed were again seen 

 to-day. Fougner and I were on the ice fishing, and we caught eleven 

 fishes. 



May %th. — Evans and I took a walk along the beach. We brought a 

 gun with us in case a bird should happen to come near. As we walked 

 along we observed two large Penguins far away — about 1,000 yards — on 

 the ice. We went immediately out on the ice to take the shortest cut 

 towards them. The birds appeared to be restless, so we thought it 

 advisable to hurry on as fast as possible ; this we soon found to be 

 necessaiy, as some dogs which had followed the Finns, who were out on 

 the ice fishing, had also got a scent of the Penguins, and were already far 

 ahead of us before we saw these competitors. There was nothing else 

 for us to do but to launch out as fast as possible, but we were nevertheless 

 left behind in the race. The dogs reached the Penguins a good while 

 before us and had already spoilt one of them before we arrived and killed 

 the birds with two shots. Fougner came now to our assistance to bring 

 the birds into camp, where they were admired, photographed, weighed, 

 and at last preserved, I made one skin and one skeleton * of these our 

 unexpected winter visitors. They weighed respectively 64 and 71 lbs. 

 English. The layer of fat on their backs was one inch thick. The 

 contents of their stomachs were fish, but no stones. Soon after the 

 Finns also came in and brought with them upwards of twenty fish, which 

 we had for supper, and found to be excellent eating. 



' Hemiaster. — P. J. B. ' 



2 Probably Vanadis antarctica.--¥. J. B. 



^ This skeleton was not in the collection delivered to the British Museum. — 

 R. B. S. 



* This second skeleton was also not brought to the Museum. — 11. B. S. 



H 2 



