104 Animal Life 
time large fleets of ships 
used annually to leave 
the Scotch, English, 
and Norwegian ports to 
hunt the Greenland 
Right Whale; but 
these whales have been 
so reduced in numbers 
as to be hardly worth 
going after, and scarcely 
ie Cor any whalers now hunt 
[8 = St Sc. ae % 3 
Photo by J. Madsen. them. The Fin ners Photo by J. Madsen. 
ERMINE. POLAR HARE. 
and the Bottle-Nose are 
also taken chiefly for the blubber, as the Bottle-Nose has no whalebone, and the 
Finners have only very short plates in the mouth. 
I have left no space to speak in detail even of the commoner Arctic birds. Of 
these, probably the most familiar to travellers within the Circle is the Loon or Arctic 
Guillimot, of which some photographs are given at the beginning of this article. This 
bird, together with the Little Auk and the Dovekie, is the first to break the long silence 
of the dark winter months. The Loon lays a single egg on the bare ledges of rock 
without any attempt at a nest. ‘Towards the end of August the young birds make 
their descent to the sea by taking a jump from the high cliffs, opening their wings 
and so skimming downwards towards the sea. In this the old birds aid them, flying 
with them and holding up the youngsters by the tail. I have seen as many as three 
old birds helping a single young one. Kittiwakes are nearly as common in some spots 
on the Arctic as on the British coasts. They make a nest of dry grass, and usually 
build near the loons, but on a tier of rocks beneath them. Concerning Gulls I need 
say nothing, as these have already been dealt with in ANrwaAL Lire; and it only 
remains for me to mention the names of the Snow Bunting, the Skua, the Snowy Owl, 
the Turnstone, the Knot and the Brent Goose as some of the birds more commonly 
met with in the Arctic Regions. 
Photograph by J. Madsen. 
ICELAND HORSE. 
