92 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Partially imbedded in these floebergs were fragments of rock or 
pebbles, with mud undoubtedly derived from contact with the sea- 
bottom; not unfrequently these pebbles were ice-scratched. It 
would be difficult to imagine how these scratchings could be pro- 
duced, crossing one another over the surface of the same pebble, if 
we had to rely on only one form of movement of the floeberg 
when in contact with the bottom—namely, a direct on-shore pres- 
sure. A phenomenon which I frequently observed may, however, 
easily account for these ice-scratchings. At the periods of high- 
tides, as the tidal wave flowed in with extra force, the whole body 
of the young or season’s ice, approaching six feet in thickness, 
was affected; it rose and fell under one’s feet with peculiar throbs 
or pulsations. This sheet of young ice, by which the large 
hummocks were surrounded, unquestionably acted as a raft, 
raising the huge masses from the ground, and then as the tidal 
flow receded, permitting them again to grind against the bottom. 
A convincing proof of this up and down movement of the ice-raft 
was given in the case of the largest floebergs, which being too 
deeply imbedded in the bottom refused to move. Around them 
the season’s ice could not resist the pressure of the tidal 
in-flow, but split with a loud report, the water rising from below 
through these cracks, and flooding the ice which adhered to these 
immovable masses. 
On the 11th March the quartermaster on watch observed 
three white birds fly past the ship in a northerly direction, and 
two or three days afterwards the tracks of Ptarmigan were 
observed in the snow, near to spots where the snow covering had 
been removed by the force of the wind. On the 16th I found a 
Ptarmigan’s feather close to a plant of Potentilla, which the bird 
had been scratching at. This early appearance of these birds 
in Grinnell Land during the coldest month of the Arctic year 
seems remarkable, and raises the question in my mind whether 
some of them do not winter by choice in those inhospitable 
regions, within four hundred and fifty miles of the North Pole. 
I do not think that it can be doubted that Lagopus hemileucurus 
is a permanent resident in Spitsbergen, and the same may 
hold good with L. rupestris in Grinnell Land. If so, the genus 
Lagopus contains the only species of birds that can exist 
throughout the year in the Polar zone. 
The entries in my journal for the month of March consist 
