TRAPPERS 25 



loose great-coat, busily stirring a fire of tree- 

 branches with his alpenstock. As Merite still 

 wished to watch the petrels feeding, I sent 

 Lieutenant Rachlew to accompany Andersen 

 on board, with instructions to supply him with 

 tobacco, cigars, preserved vegetables and pota- 

 toes. Meanwhile, I walked with the Doctor 

 along the sands as far as Flotsam Bay. Never 

 before had I believed it possible to see at one 

 time in one place such an assemblage of petrels. 

 They extended for several miles, blackening 

 the surface of the sea. Examining the spume 

 left by the waves on the shore, I perceived 

 innumerable minute shell-fish on which the 

 birds feed. These little crustaceans are called 

 sea-lice in Normandy. They form the petrel's 

 only nutriment. Suddenly all the birds, 

 alarmed at something we could not define, 

 rose from the water. 



When the wind blows strong from the south, 

 these birds seek refuge in Mary Muss Bay. 

 Near the water-station they appear in such 

 numbers as to render it difficult for the men to 

 move about. Their constant cawing is intoler- 

 able. I vividly recall an occasion when I 

 passed two nights anchored in Green Harbour 

 alongside a whaler storing blubber. Thousands 

 of petrels surrounded us. Of the sleeplessness 



