53 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



On examining it I found it to be a Wheatear, Saxicola oenanthe. 

 Ouv position was lat. 77° N., long. 1° W. Numbers of old 

 Saddle Seals were seen coming from the S.E. on the 6th, 

 undoubtedly having been washed oif an outlying " stream," and 

 now returning to the main ice. On the 7th, the s.s. " Hope," of 

 Peterhead, spoke us. We learnt from Capt. J. Gray, that the 

 young Saddle Seal fishing had proved a complete failure. Com- 

 paratively fine weather was experienced until March 25tli, when 

 the weather changing for the worse, a succession of heavy north- 

 easterly gales set in. Several of the Norwegian vessels were almost 

 ashore on Jan May en, and one Scotch vessel, the 'Polar Star,' was 

 driven as far south as Iceland (a distance of 400 miles), where she 

 narrowly escaped being wrecked. The strong winds had also the 

 efi^ect of separating tlie ice, and necessarily also of dividing the 

 seals into a number of separate patches. Owing to the severity 

 of the weather the ships were unable to lower their boats until 

 the 7th of April. The consequence was that the young seals 

 were older than usual before being killed, and therefore in better 

 condition. The seals were found in lat. 74° N., long. 2° E., 

 at the extremity of the " point " already referred to, a few 

 miles from the sea. Twenty-one Norwegians and three Scotch 

 vessels were present, the former captured about 31,600, the 

 latter about 4500 " white coats " (young Saddle Seals), 

 besides these, a few old Saddle Seals were captured, perhaps 

 4000. In round numbers, the twenty-four vessels present cap- 

 tured a total of 40,000 seals, old and young, an average of 1600 

 per ship, certainly quite insufficient to pay expenses, and 

 undoubtedly the poorest young Saddle Sealing as yet recorded. 



Towards the evening of the 8th the weather moderated suffi- 

 ciently to allow us to proceed. After " fishing " several patclies 

 of seals which we discovered on our way north, the I4tli found us 

 in lat. 78° approaching whaling-ground. On the 11th, amongst a 

 patch of seals, a young Saddle was noticed lying on the ice, still 

 wearing its snow-white coat. By the lotli, after several days 

 work, the necessary preparations for whaling were completed. 

 600 fathoms (= 1,200 yards) of line were carefully coiled into 

 each boat, harpoons were spliced on to the lines, harpoon guns 

 fixed in the boat bows, &c. The day following we spoke the 

 s.s. 'Erik,' of Peterhead. Capt. A. Gray reported having been 



