SPlTZr.ErvOEN AND GREENLAND. 79 



they arc going from thence tliey gather all together, and 

 when they arc all met they fly away, every kind by them- 

 selves, which hath been very often observed : whence I con- 

 clude they cannot live in this intolerable cold place in the 

 winter. They rest as well upon the Mater as the land (and 

 when they fly up they look against the wind), for else they 

 would be quite tired in this long journey. 



Whether the mew called ratJisher, that does not love the 

 water, performs its journey in one day, I cannot tell ; or whe- 

 ther necessity compels him to rest upon the water. 



Which way those birds that have divided claws on their 

 feet, as the snite, the snow-bird, and the ice-bird, get over 

 the water, I know not. 



CHAP. IV. 



Of the Four-Footed Creatures. 



1. Of the Hart or Deer.' 



This is not very unlike unto the hart ; it hath cloven feet 

 like it, and its horns are also like unto a hart or elJce ; they 

 have three or four branches on each side, which are about 

 two inches broad and about a foot long ; their ears are long, 

 and tail very short : he is of a greyish yellow colour, like an 

 hart or deer. When they see a man they run away ; if you 

 stand still they stand also, then you must immediately fire at 

 them if you have a mind to hit them. They eat the herbs 

 and grass. They are every where about Spitzbergen, but 

 above all in the Rene-Jield (or Deers-field), that hath its 

 name from thence, where they'r very plentiful, and also 

 upon the Foreland near the Muscle Haven. I never saw 



* The Rein-Deer [Tarandus Rangifer). 



