INSCHAROKCAMP 195 



In a pool I also shot three long- tailed ducks, so we 

 were secure for supper. 



A nest of four little stints I found this day is worthy 

 of mention, because it was the first of those instances of 

 young birds being- kicked out of the nest by the parent 

 of which I propose to write later on in the book. The 

 old bird as she jumped and crept about squeaked just 

 like a house mouse. 



When we cleaned the willow-grouse for the cooking, 

 we threw the insides on to the grass about ten yards 

 from the tent, and these the Arctic skuas came and 

 carried off. 



The pink sea-glaux was now coming out and the pretty 

 blue Jacob's-ladder. And everywhere cuckoo-pint was 

 in full flower ; but its flowers were white and not lilac. 



On the mud-flats I noticed a new wader among- the 

 dunlins. It proved to be a Temminck's stint. The 

 glaucous gulls, who were our very intimate friends, used 

 to carry their bivalves from the creek away on to the 

 swamp behind the tent. They had quite a collection of 

 shells there. 



This evening there was rain and fog, and it was pretty 

 dismal. 



The wind chopped from south-west to north-west and 

 back again ; and with every change the ice, as it separated, 

 went off like great auns. 



The ice was never still. It set up or down with each 

 tide, and the blocks took often most fantastic shapes. 



Most bitterly did I repent having come down here, which 



