480 NEW LAND. 



Later on they go about in pairs, but in the autumn appear again in 

 packs, as the broods remain long with their parents. At this time they 

 are not at all wild, and it is easy to shoot the entire pack. Only the 

 hens change colour, and become dark in the spring ; with the exception 

 of a few dark feathers on the crown of the head, the cocks retain their 

 white winter garb, which, however, in the course of the summer becomes 

 dirty, and consequently by quite mechanical means darker. The 

 ptarmigan were most plentiful at Cape Rutherford, where in the 

 autumn of 1898 three guns shot twenty-seven and a half brace in one 

 day. 



The sea-fowl were more numerous than the land-birds, both as 

 regards species and individuals. It is they which bring life and turmoil 

 to these barren coasts ; their scream it is which fills the air, their pre- 

 sence which brings summer with it. A bird-life, however, such as is 

 found in more southern latitudes, must not be expected here ; though 

 at certain places, as at Indre Eidet, in Gaasefjord, there was much to 

 interest an ornithologist. 



Most conspicuous are, perhaps, the gulls, of which there were several 

 species. The largest of these, the glaucous gull (Lams glaucus), was 

 also the commonest. It breeds on steep cliffs in companies of up 

 to twenty pairs. A rather smaller species, the herring gull (L. 

 argentatus), often breeds at the same place with them. Both these 

 gulls come at about the same time in the latter half of May and 

 remain as long as there is open water ; two of them were seen on 

 October 30, 1899. The ivory gull (Pagophila eburma) was often 

 seen, and probably bred up there, though its nest was never found. 

 The fourth kind, the kittiwake (Rissa iritladylci), was not common, 

 but was seen now and then. Skuas were occasionally seen, and one 

 species in particular, the long-tailed skua (Lestris longicaudata), was 

 common, and was found breeding on several occasions. Its eggs were 

 once found lying in a pool of water, and, this notwithstanding, were 

 quite warm, so it must be assumed that the bird was sitting on them 

 there. 



A very common bird was the Arctic tern (Sterna macrura), whose 

 piercing scream was everywhere heard in the summer months. It 

 generally bred in colonies, and kept strict watch and ward round its 

 nests, attacking without discrimination gulls, skuas, and men. More 

 than once it happened that these hot-tempered little birds actually flew 

 down on to our heads. 



One of the first birds of passage to come to the heads of the 

 fjords in spring was the brent goose (Bernida Irenta), which began to 

 arrive at the end of May. In the very unfavourable spring of 1901 

 these birds must have suffered great privation, as they arrived long 



