28 VOYAGE TO SPITSBERGEN. 



The tame fowl are, geese, ducks, pigeons, dung- 

 hill fowl, and some turkeys. 



To the winding bays resort swans, dunter, clack, 

 and soland geese ; teal, Greenland doves, shearwa- 

 ters, kittiweaks, (which are amazingly numerous,) 

 different kinds of gulls, cormorants, and other aqua- 

 tic birds. 



In the islands of Unst and Foula is bred a bird 

 of the web-footed kind, called Skua, about two feet 

 long, having its claws sharp, strong, and hooked, 

 like those of a kite. It preys on the lesser wa- 

 ter fowl, like a rapacious land bird, and is so re- 

 markably courageous and fierce in defending its 

 young, that it will even repel the eagle from its 

 haunts. Some birds are driven here by the frost 

 from the inclement north, and pass their winter in 

 the Shetland bays ; whilst others, (mostly of the 

 palmated kind,) retire in the spring to more south- 

 ern latitudes. The guillemot remains in these 

 islands till November. 



This is a very pretty bird, about one foot and a 

 half long. Its bill is about three inches long; head, * 

 neck, back, wings, and tail of a deep mouse-colour. 

 Its breast and belly milk white. There is another 

 bird, called the stormy petrel, of a black and white 

 colour, with a black bill much hooked at the end. 

 It breeds commonly among the loose stones on 



