ORNITHOLOGY OF THE BRITISH POLAR EXPEDITION. 211 
Upon several occasions I watched Stormy Petrels remaining 
quiescent for upwards of a minute upon the surface of the water, 
the wings being nearly closed, and the bird evidently at rest. 
Sailors catch Petrels by dangling out a bottom of fine thread 
astern, in which they entangle their wings; it is considered, 
however, most unlucky to kill them. 
Purrin, Fratercula arctica.—On July Ist, 1875, I saw two 
Puffins as far north as lat. 64°, on the-coast of Greenland, near 
Godhaab. 
Buack GuititEmotT (“ Dovekey”), Uria grylle.—First met with 
in lat. 63° 24’ on the Ist of July. Afterwards their breeding- 
places were noticed at various localities as far north as Bessel’s 
Bay, in lat. 81° 4’; as about Upernavik and Kangitok; at 
Norman Lockyer Island and in Hayes Sound; in Dobbin Bay 
and at Cape Frazer. In 1876, the first Dovekeys were seen in 
Discovery Bay upon the 22nd July. I do not think they bred in 
the neighbourhood, there being no open water for them to subsist 
in, in the early part of the season. ‘These birds did not associate 
in large flocks like other Auks and Guillemots. Dr. Coppinger 
observed a few Dovekeys at Polaris Bay and in Petermann Fiord 
in July, 1876. During his sojourn there, eight were shot for the 
sick. Tracks and open places in the ice seem, however, to appear 
earlier upon the opposite shore than upon that of Discovery Bay. 
Briinnicn’s GuitLemor (“Loom”), Alca arra.—On July 16th 
I gathered Looms’ eggs in Svarte Vogel Bay. These birds bred 
here in multitudes, nor did I observe any other species in im- 
mediate company with them, though other birds would inhabit 
the same range of cliffs, and isolated pairs of Glaucous Gulls 
bred here and there overhead near their summits. A number of 
these birds were shot for the consumption of the ships’ crews at 
-Sanderson’s Hope, in lat. 72°—a magnificent wall of sheer cliff 
_ over a thousand feet in height, containing the most noted of the 
Greenland “loomeries.”” Boats started from both ships, but a 
heavy swell rendered our attempts less successful than we had 
anticipated. These birds make a very tolerable stew. Eggs were 
also obtained from Upernavik; they are very strong-flavoured 
and by no means inviting, the white when boiled being transparent 
and gelatinous, and the taste stronger than that of a duck-egg, 
Looms and loomeries were observed north of lat. 79°, at Cape 
Alexander. This species seems to replace our Guillemot in high 
