204 Mr. A. Newton on the Birds of Spitsbergen. 



petulant barkings of the Arctic Foxes, or the shrieks of casual 

 wanderers from the countless multitude, which, persecuted by 

 Burgomasters or Skuas, or, for some other reason straying from 

 their wonted course, now and then passed backwards and for- 

 wards at a much lower level, and yet far overhead. On firing a 

 gun at the foot of the precipice, a dead silence of a few seconds 

 ensued, until the echoes of the shot reverberated from the face of 

 the rocks. Then the birds might be seen darting out like a 

 swarm of bees when their hive is attacked, and filling the whole 

 air — the E-otches hardly visible to my eyes without glasses, 

 the Guillemots more perceptible, but still diminished by the vast 

 height to mere specks. As they fly out seaward and pass over 

 us, the hollow rumbling sound of their " infinite wings," beating 

 the air with rapid strokes, comes down to us. Then they turn, 

 and now louder than ever is the uproar : where one bird vocife- 

 rated before, probably ten are clamorous now. For the Burgo- 

 masters and Skuas seize their opportunity and dash in to pilfer 

 the unprotected eggs and young. After some ten minutes or so 

 the additional outcry dies away into the normal confused murmur. 

 But the whole scene completely beats description. It would be 

 idle, I think, attempting to compute the number of birds that 

 breed on this range of clifi's. Admiral Beechey states* that in 

 Magdalena Bay, further to the northward, he frequently saw a 

 column of Botches, which, by means of a rough calculation, he 

 estimated as consisting of " nearly four million of birds on the 

 wing at one time." This result seems almost incredible ; but 

 I do not feel justified, after what I have seen, in treating it as 

 an exaggeration. 



Returning to the yacht, in the evening we made an excursion 

 towards the glacier at the head of the Haven, and watched a Fox 

 attempting to surprise a couple of old Eider-drakes, who, how- 

 ever, were too sharp for him, and took flight just as he was pre- 

 paring to spring upon them, leaving him hungry and discom- 

 fited on the beach. Later, or early in the morning, the party 



* A Voya2;e of Discovery towards the North Pole, performed in His 

 Majesty's Ships 'Dorothea' and 'Trent,' under the command of Captain 

 David Buchan, R.N.; 1818. By Captain F. W. Beechey, R.N., F.R.S. 

 London: 1843. Page 46. 



