158 A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEEGEN, ETC. 



21. Mergulus alle. — These impudent-looking little birds be- 

 came very numerous as we approached Spitzbergen. "While 

 steaming along the coast we appeared at times to be literally 

 cutting a lane through the floating hosts of these birds and 

 Guillemots. In all directions roand our bows the sea was fur- 

 rowed by them in their efforts to rise and get out of our way, 

 efforts which usually proved futile, as, probably owing to their 

 quills being drenched with incessant diving, they seemed unable 

 to rise from the surface ; and finally, after splashing along per- 

 haps fifteen or twenty yards, they would give up the attempt 

 and go down headfirst. They were equally numerous in all the 

 Sounds ; and in the Loomeries their little white breasts studded 

 every ledge and projection of the crags, up to elevations of per- 

 haps two thousand feet. We observed these birds, together with 

 Guillemots, Arctic Puffins, Fulmars, and Kittiwakes, right up to 

 the edge of the Polar Pack, by which our advance was finally 

 stopped, just under the 80th degree north latitude. 



The Little Auk swims rather deep, and very much ' ' by the 

 stern." Their cries are singularly weird — an incessant chatter- 

 ing carried on in varying keys, and finally modulating into a 

 prolonged wild "twirl," the latter a characteristic component in 

 the volume of voices which resound from the Arctic cliffs. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 



A Waif of the Arctic Seas Frontispiece. 



North of Horn Sound; Tinners Plate III. 



Head of Van Keulen's Bay; White Whales Plate IV. 



Head Glaciers, Green Haven; Seals Plate V. 



