410 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the surface of the coast region are to be assigned to the period of 
submergence. At present we appear to be entirely in the dark as 
to the exact action of an ice-cap. Does the stupendous mass of 
frozen water which we are led to believe buries the interior of the 
continent of Greenland to a depth of thousands of feet remain 
quiescent, like liquid water in a deep lake, or does it move? In 
both cases the effluents, namely, the glacier and the river, can be 
seen at work, and their results estimated. Unless we grant to the 
ice-cap the power of erosion, I am at a loss to account for the 
physical contour of a large part of the Arctic Regions, and if 
the roundings of the hills and the scoopings out of the valleys and 
fiords are due to such a cause, theu there must have been a period 
of as extreme glaciation in the northern regions of our globe, as we 
are led to believe now exists at the South Pole. 
Returning from my long walk late in the evening, I was so 
fortunate as to fallin with a boat and party, at the shore, on its 
way to visit the settlement of Etah, which lies some considerable 
distance up Foulke Fiord. As we pulled up the fiord, the air above 
was filled with thousands upon thousands of specks, which were 
Little Auks passing from their breeding-places to the sea. By 
this date the young ones were all hatched, and when taken 
out of their nests appeared as balls of black down. Dr. Hayes 
has given an interesting and graphic account of the aukeries of 
Foulke Fiord and the mode of capturing the birds by the natives. 
He writes :— 
“Tt would be impossible to convey an adequate idea of the immense 
numbers of the Little Auks which swarmed around us. The slope on both 
sides of the valley rises at an angle of about forty-five degrees to a distance 
of from three hundred to five hundred feet, where it meets the cliffs, which 
stand about seven hundred feet higher. These hill-sides are composed of 
the loose rocks which have been split off from the cliffs by the frost. The 
birds crawl among these rocks, winding far in through narrow places, and 
there deposit each a single egg and hatch their young secure from their 
enemy, the foxes, which prowl round in great numbers, ever watching for a 
meal. The birds were more noisy than usual, for they had just returned 
in immense swarms from the sea, where they had been getting their 
breakfast. Kalutunah carried a small net, made of light strings of seal-skin 
knitted together very ingeniously. The staff by which it was held was 
about ten feet long. After clambering over the rough, sharp stones, we 
arrived at length about half-way up to the base of the cliffs, where Kalutunah 
crouched behind a rock and invited me to follow his example. I observed 
