NOTES OF A NATURALIST ON SPITZBERGEN. 383 



(as given by Nordenskiold). On again reaching the boat we 

 proceeded up the bay, which was quite free from ice right up to 

 its head ; it terminates, in true Spitzbergen fashion, in a large 

 glacier. We presently found ourselves among some White Whales, 

 one of which came up quite close ahead of us. We saw several 

 Ringed Seals swimming during the day, at most of which Kjeldsen 

 and I, who had rifles, fired one or more shots, but so violent and 

 constant were the movements of the boat, in consequence of the 

 roughness of the sea, that we could not contrive, despite our 

 frantic efforts, to hold our rifles straight enough to kill one. 

 During the afternoon, however, one finding itself perfectly safe 

 amid the ineffectual hail of Kjeldsen and myself, made bold to 

 swim up within fifty yards of us, whereupon Chapman slipped a 

 ball-cartridge into his shot-gun, and a shot-gun being adapted for 

 snap-shooting, which a rifle is not, he put a bullet into its head, 

 killing it, of course, instantaneously. We also had shots at an 

 enormous Seal, which Kjeldsen pronounced a " Stor-kobbe," and 

 which was doubtless that species (P. barbata). About half-way along 

 the north shore of the bay, somewhere near "Breakfast Point," we 

 found a good deal of driftwood. Chapman and I this afternoon 

 each procured a good Eider drake. As a rule we found them 

 exceedingly wary, keeping well out of harm's way, while the ducks 

 could be easily shot in large numbers. 



August 2nd. On the way back, near Eders Island, I caught a 

 glimpse of a bird flying behind me, which I believe to have been 

 a Long-tailed Duck, but sitting as I was, rowing and rather 

 cramped up, I could not screw round in time to get a better look 

 at it. On an island near Point Ahlstrand, on the south side of 

 the bay, about an hour and a half's row from the anchorage near 

 Separation Point, where the ship was lying, we found a pair of 

 Brent Geese. Eiders and Arctic Terns were breeding here, and 

 I picked up some tufts of feathers which had belonged to immature 

 Glaucous Gulls, which had apparently been eaten by other birds, 

 which tufts Kjeldsen believed to have belonged to Snowy Owls — 

 indirect evidence, I think, that this was a bird he had previously 

 met with in Spitzbergen, though I do not remember whether he 

 said he had ever done so, or not. When near the Pallas (about 

 3 a.m.) we saw a few Briinnich's Guillemots, accompanied by their 

 young ones, about which they were very anxious : the young could 

 dive well. Two of the sportsmen of our party, who had been away 



