438 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and I went ashore, and walked to the remains of an old house, 

 probably Russian ; shot half-a-dozen Purple Sandpipers apiece 

 for the " pot." Rowing back against the wind, we bad a very hard 

 job — indeed quite as much as we could do to fetch the ship, where 

 all hands were ready to lower the other boat and come to our 

 rescue; however, we eventually got close under the stern and 

 caught a line Arnesen threw us, and were hauled alongside. 



September 22.— Still blowing a gale from S.E. out at sea; 

 here we are comparatively sheltered. Rained all the morning, 

 so that the snow almost disappeared — tbat is to say, most of tbe 

 low ground is now green. Off in tbe afternoon in the fangst-boat, 

 with three" hands, over to the glacier opposite, in hopes of a seal. 

 Saw a "Snad" (i.e. Ringed Seal), also a very large Great Seal, 

 but neither came near enough to shoot at. Saw three ducks 

 together, which were probably Harelda glacialis, but they did not 

 come near enough to shoot at. Whilst trying in vain to approach 

 a family of well-grown Eiders, I shot a Little Auk, the only one 

 seen for several days past. Among the Eiders seen were three 

 immature drakes, the only ones seen during the voyage, I think. 

 I also shot a young Mandt's Guillemot, and could have shot four 

 or five more ; saw a dozen or more. One, while we were waiting 

 for the reappearance of the Great Seal, came up within reach of 

 an oar, and remained there without any fear. Hovering over the 

 glacier and gradually soaring over the Fjord, we caught sight of a 

 falcon, which I have not the slightest doubt was a Gyrfalcon, but 

 of which species I cannot pretend to say. I had a good look at 

 him with my glass. Halvorsen called him an " Is-6rn" ; all three 

 men agreed that it was certainly a falcon. A good many Fulmars, 

 as usual. I believe I saw one old Mandt's Guillemot ; all the 

 others were probably young ; I do not think any of them were 

 adults, which had already assumed winter dress. Shot a dozen 

 Purple Sandpipers, and found them excellent eating, equal, as it 

 seemed to us, to Snipe, and landed after some Pink-footed Geese, 

 but they were extremely shy, going off while we were still several 

 hundred yards away ; there must have been about a hundred and 

 fifty of them. Rabot went ashore in the other boat, and returned 

 in triumph with about twenty-five Purple Sandpipers. More rain 

 in the evening. 



September 23.— Continuous rain all the morning. A fox 

 reported on shore, within gunshot of the smack, early in the 



