Mr. A. Newton on the Birds of Spitsbergen. 219 



and enjoyed excellent deer-stalking. On that day in the fore- 

 noon we finally heaved our anchor from its bed at the bottom of 

 the Haven, and gazed with regret for the last time on the cold 

 glaciers and lofty peaks whose aspect had been so long familiar 

 to us, as with a favouring breeze the ' Sultana ' sped away 

 southward. 



Little more remains for me to say. On the 22nd, while we 

 had not yet lost sight of Spitsbergen, the craggy pinnacle of 

 Horn Mount still forming a fine object on our port-quarter, an 

 Ivory-Gull appeared, but this was the last we saw. Burgo- 

 masters showed themselves on the 23rd, in attendance upon a 

 large flock of Kittiwakes (among which was a considerable pro- 

 portion of young birds) that we encountered sitting on the 

 water. On the 24th, we had a good view of Bear Island, with 

 its high hill. Mount Misery, as we passed some twenty miles to 

 the westward of it ; and next morning its loom was yet discern- 

 ible through a murky horizon. At different times a good many 

 Kittiwakes and Pomatorhine Skuas came about us ; and one, at 

 least, of the latter was seen on the following day, when we were 

 approaching the Norwegian coast. Fulmars had hitherto kept 

 company with us since leaving Spitsbergen, roaming hither and 

 thither, as if they were looking for something that had been lost, 

 and yet with their wonted air of indifference as to whether they 

 found it or not — two or three beats of their pinions, and then 

 a slanting sail, either to right or left, on their steadily-extended 

 wings. One could not but appreciate the fanciful belief among 

 sailors, that their bodies are inhabited by the souls of old 

 whaling-skippers. They now all ceased to appear. The same 

 night, the first stars we had seen for more than two months 

 shone out, and early in the morning of the 27th of August we 

 were close to the land ; but the wind being light it was not till 

 late in the afternoon that we dropped our anchor in the harbour 

 of Hammerfest, and felt that we had returned to a modified state 

 of civilization. Here, then, concludes all I have to say in this 

 place of my personal experience of Spitsbergen and its birds. 

 [To be continued.] 



