70 VOYAGE INTO 



head: his eyes are black; about his neck he hath a dark yellow- 

 ish ring or circle ; his wings, as well as his back, are brown ; 

 underneath his belly he is white ; he is somewhat bigger 

 than the mew called kutge-gehef; he hunts and flies in the 

 air after the mew kutge-geJief, so long torments her until she 

 avoideth her dung, on which this bird feeds, which he catches 

 dexterously before it falls down into the water ; and this is 

 the reason Avhy they call him Strunt-jager, in English the 

 dung -hunter. 



He flyeth with the mews called Kutge-gehef, which do not 

 fear him in the least, and they are both equally swift in their 

 flying, but when he intends to make them dung, he hunts 

 them and makes them cry out very loud, but he himself sel- 

 dom cries. He generally keepeth but to one mew, but if 

 two or three of the mews be together, and one makes her 

 escape from him, then he hunts the other two, and flyeth 

 sometimes above and sometimes underneath them. I could 

 never see him hunt after any other birds, but once I saw him 

 fly after a mallemuck ; but I saw him soon leave her, per- 

 haps because her dung did not please him. I am of opinion 

 that this dung, because it is thin, serves him instead of drink, 

 for else he eats the fat of the whale for his food : he builds 

 his nest not very high. 



He goes upright upon his legs, like the Biirger-meister , 

 Ratsher, or Kutge-gehef. It is a rare bird, and I saw but very 

 few of them. He flies commonly alone ; I saw very seldom 

 two or three of them together ; he flies like the ratsher, or 

 like a crow, but his wings are somewhat more pointed at the 

 ends. 



He hath a loud voice, when he cries it sounds as if he did 

 say, / Ja. To some it seemeth, if it be at a distance, as if he 

 cried, Jo han. His flesh is not better than that of the other 

 birds of prey. I got him on the 11th oiJuhj near to the Dear- 

 haven, or Dear-hag, in Sjjitzhcrgen ; afterwards I saw this 

 bird, behind Scotland, hunt after the mew kutge-gehef. 



