WONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS. 211 



there, July 5, 1872, six men loaded a bidarrah at Walrus Islet, 

 capable of carrying four tons, exclusive of our crew, down to the 

 water's edge with eggs, in less than three working hours.* 



During winter months these birds are almost wholly absent, 

 especially so if ice-floes shall have closed in around the islands ; 

 then there is nothing of the feathered kind save a stupid shag (P. 

 bicristatus) as it clings to the leeward cliffs, or the great burgo- 

 master gull, which sweeps in circling flight high overhead ; but, 

 early in May they begin to make their first appearance, and they 

 come up from the sea overnight, as it were, their chattering and 

 their harsh carolling waking the natives from slothful sleeping, 

 which, however, they gladly break, to seize their nets and live 

 life anew, as far as eating is concerned. The stress of severe 

 weather in the winter months, the driving of the snow "boorgas," 

 and the floating ice-fields closing in to shut out the open water, are 

 cause enough for a disappearance of all water-fowl, pro tern. 



Again, the timid traveller here is delighted ; he has been re- 



* Using the egg of our domestic fowl, the hen, as a standard, the following 

 note made in regard to the size and quality of the eggs of the sea-birds of these 

 waters may not be uninteresting to many. When daily served on St. George, 

 during June and July, with eggs of indigenous sea-fowl, I recorded my gas- 

 tronomic comparisons which occurred then as I ate them. Here follows a re- 

 capitulation : 



Fresh-laid eggs of "lupus," or F. glacialis : Best eggs known to the 

 islands; can be soft-boiled or fried, etc., and are as good as our own hens' 

 eggs ; the yolk is light and clear ; the size thereof is in shape and bulk like a 

 duck's egg ; it has a white shelL Season : June 1st to 15th, inclusive ; scarce 

 on St. Paul, and not abundant on St. George. 



Fresh-laid eggs of " arrie," or L. arra : Very good ; can be soft-boiled or 

 fried ; are best scrambled ; yolks are dark ; no strange taste whatever to them ; 

 pyriform in shape ; large as a goose-egg ; shell gayly-colored ; they are exceed- 

 ingly abundant on Walrus Island and St. George ; tons of them. Season : 

 June 25th to July 10th, inclusive. 



Fresh-laid eggs of gulls, LaridoB : Perceptibly strong ; cannot be relished 

 unless in omelettes ; yolks very dark ; size and shape of our hen's egg ; shell 

 dark, clay-colored ground, mottled. Season : June 5th to July 20th, inclusive ; 

 they are in moderate supply only. The other eggs in the list, such as those 

 of the *' choochkie," the " shag, "and the several varieties of water-fowl which 

 breed here, are never secured in sufficient quantity to be of any consideration 

 as articles of diet. It is, perhaps, better that a scarcity of their kind continue, 

 judging from the strong smack of the choochkie's, the repulsive taint of the 

 shag's, and the "twang '' of the sea-parrot s, all of which I tasted as a matter 

 of investigation. 



