328 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



strong nets, and kill them by putting a bullet into the head. We 

 saw the net, which had not long since been hauled on board a 

 sort of lighter, and on the top of it were lying two or three Einged 

 Seals, one of which I bought, as they had been drowned, and 

 would therefore make a skeleton, which would not be the case 

 with any we might shoot, in which the skull is always broken — 

 besides the well-known fact that a bird in the hand is worth two 

 in the bush. I was also given the skeleton of another one, minus 

 the phalanges of the feet, which were retained in the skin, but 

 this skeleton, together with some other osteological specimens, 

 was thrown overboard on the passage to Bergen, after I had left 

 the ship. There were a good many Glaucous Gulls about, all 

 adults, of which we shot several. A large series shows a surprising 

 difference in the size of individuals. 



July 29th. Leaving Magdalena Baj 7 at midnight, we proceeded 

 northwards, past the west side of Danes Island, and rounding 

 Amsterdam Island, we turned about N.E., until about 3 a.m., 

 we were off Vogelsang, lat. 79° 55' N., — surface temperature 

 of the sea (2 a.m.) 32° Fahr. There we were stopped by a field 

 of ice, which, for all we could tell to the contrary, might be 

 continuous to the Pole itself, and several degrees on the other 

 side of it. The night was splendid, calm and clear, and brilliant 

 sunshine. An Arctic scene such as we were then looking upon is 

 incomparably more beautiful (in my opinion at any rate) than any 

 bit of show scenery that I have ever seen farther south. We 

 hereabouts saw Fulmars, numbers of Little Auks, Brunnich's 

 and Mandt's Guillemots, a few Kittiwakes, and a couple of Puffins ; 

 also a few Seals, probably all P. hispida. At about 3.30 we turned 

 round and started south again, and about half an hour later 

 I turned in, so know nothing about the birds until 12.30 p.m., by 

 which time we were again in Magdalena Bay, but found that 

 during the forenoon we had passed a sloop which had two Polar 

 Bear cubs on board alive, for which one of our party made a bid. 

 Chapman's diary is as follows : — " Landed after breakfast, with 

 Faussett, and commenced operations by bagging seven splendid 

 mature Glaucous Gulls at one rise, also two beautiful Ivory Gulls. 

 Ascended Rottge's Hill, a vast precipice, 2000 feet high, where 

 millions of Little Auks, Guillemots (both sorts), Fulmars, Glaucous 

 and Ivory Gulls breed, in hopes of eggs; but the breeding-shelves 

 were inaccessible to man, and ever will be. To see the clouds of 



