A FLYING VISIT TO SPITSBERGEN. 89 



more depressed than its edges, and covered by a saturated moss, 

 in which lies a small tarn of fresh water. Being some distance 

 from land and surrounded by open water, this islet offers a safe 

 asylum to the Eider Ducks and Brent Geese. I never saw a 

 limited area more thronged with Eider fowl than this was. 

 I calculated that on our first landing the skerry must have been 

 occupied by more than five hundred pairs of Eiders and some 

 twenty pairs of Brent Geese. The Eiders (all Somateria mol- 

 lissima) were nesting in colonies, and so tame that we had almost 

 to push the ducks off their nests. Overhead floated several 

 pairs of Skuas (S. crepidatus) , and these insolent marauders flew 

 to the nests, when uncovered by the owner, and scrambled for 

 possession of her eggs with us. We had to poke at them with 

 the barrels of our guns to drive them off, but they secured several 

 and sucked them at our feet. A pair of Bed-throated Divers had 

 their nest, with one egg in it, by the side of the tarn. We only 

 found two nests of Bernicla brenta ; each contained three eggs, 

 and the owners were very unwilling to leave them. These eggs 

 were embedded in a soft mass of grey down. Arctic Terns 

 screamed overhead, and we found one or two of their nests and 

 eggs. A few pairs of Purple Sandpipers seemed to be breeding. 

 As fresh meat was required on the yacht, several of the Eider 

 Ducks were shot, but we had to be careful in gathering them up 

 at once, for if left on the ground, and we moved on fifty yards, 

 they were immediately torn to pieces and devoured by the 

 Glaucous Gulls. In the midst of the confusion arising from 

 the attack on the ducks, a fine Snowy Owl rose from the highest 

 spot of the skerry and sailed over our heads. The two men from 

 the dingey joined us, and helped us to carry our burdens to the 

 boat. We returned to the ship with thirty Eiders and one 

 hundred and sixty of their eggs, which were nearly all quite 

 fresh. These birds and eggs were highly appreciated. The 

 northern Puffin, Mormon glacialis, was swimming in numbers 

 near the skerry ; it struck me as looking decidedly larger when 

 on the wing than M, f rater cula. These birds carry away a great 

 quantity of lead, and are somewhat difficult to secure in the sea, 

 for even when shot through the head they are well able to dive. 



The Snowy Owl has hitherto been recorded as a very rare 

 species from Spitsbergen. Professor Newton and Dr, Malmgren 

 mention one being shot on a piece of floating ice between Verlegen 



