Dr. Axel Ohlin. 
63 
water” of Baffin Bay, as we procured narwhal tusks in every 
Eskimo settlement we visited from Cape Y ork to Inglefield Gulf. 
Several evenings in August I saw companies of this remarkable whale 
coming close to the ship showing but their marbled backs, but never 
their horns above the water. Yet the schools did not contain so great 
a number as those of the “beluga,” and they seemed to keep more 
apart from each other. Like the white whales they were always to 
be seen in the clear strips of water or ‘ ‘ leads ’ ’ between the ice-floes. 
Farther south we did not meet with any. The narwhal, white whale 
and Greenland whale are probably the only real circumpolar whales. 
The natives when asked about the function of the tusks, had no ex- 
planation to give, and none of the views hitherto expressed can be 
accepted as entirely satisfactory on this point. 
^ BIRDS. 
Before enumerating the birds observed on the expedition, it may 
be well to remark that the small number of land birds observed may 
be accounted for by the rare opportunities we had to land, as we were 
almost continually on board the vessel or making excursions on the 
ice. We learned, however, that a few small birds of the orders 
Passeres and Grallatores were found living in the vicinity of Ingle- 
field Gulf. However, I was not able to identify them from these de- 
scriptions ; therefore I have enumerated here only the birds observed 
by myself ; excluding those seen south of Cape Farewell, as they be- 
long to the Atlantic Ocean. 
1. Falco candicans. — I had an opportunity to see this magnifi- 
cent bird only in Godhavn during the first week of September, when 
waiting for the Danish vessel. Lieutenant Peary’s companions af- 
firmed that they observed the Greenland falcon several times in Bow- 
doin Bay. 
2. Plectrophanes nivalis. — When we arrived at Lieutenant 
Peary’s headquarters, August 19th, I saw small flights of snow-bunt- 
ings among the hills and rocks, which were covered with a scant 
vegetation of minute specimens of Papaver nudicaule^ Potentilla, 
Silene^ Pyrola and other plants. In Godhavn this little bird was 
very common. 
3. Saxicola cenanthe. — This bird I observed only once ; it was 
in Godhavn, when stopping there on our northward trip. 
4. CoRVUS CORAX. — We shot one raven, July 24th, at Dalrymple 
Island, situated in the mouth of Wolstenholme Sound. At the 
