Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/327

Rh harpoon was found buried in the blubber on its back ; the socket of the dart was made of ivory, the blade being wrought-iron. Hans pronounced it to be a Greenland harpoon-head, and suggested that the animal had been struck in the Danish settlements.

Although there is no risk of the speedy extinction of the Green- land Whale, Balæna mysticetus, it is probable, says Capt. Feilden, that in a few years the fishing will no longer prove profitable to the fine fleet of whalers that now sail from our northern ports ; and he sees no hope of Arctic discovery increasing our knowledge of the range of this animal.

The account given of the Musk-ox (vol. ii., pp. 198–202) should be read in extenso. Musk-oxen were obtained in considerable numbers near to the winter-quarters of the ' Discovery,' over forty being shot; but in the extreme north of Grinnell Land, nearer to the winter-quarters of the ' Alert,' they were much scarcer, only six having been obtained by the crew of that vessel. The cause of the disagreeable odour which frequently taints the flesh of these animals has received no elucidation from Capt. Feilden's observa- tions. It does not appear to be confined to either sex, or to any particular season of the year ; for a young unweaned animal killed at its mother's side, and transferred within an hour to the pot, was rank and objectionable, whilst the flesh of some adult animals of both sexes was dark, tender, and well-flavoured.

The extraordinary development of the claws ou the fore-feet of the Lemming attracted some attention, and Capt. Feilden was enabled to determine that this development is seasonal, and analogous to what is observable in some of the Tetraonidæ.

The birds met with by the Expedition are well-known Polar forms, and the chief interest lies in the record of their great northern extension in the western hemisphere. The extreme shyness of all the species observed was remarkable. Until nesting lime, it was no easy matter to get within range.

Those who, like Capt. Feilden, had been accustomed to find that delicate-looking summer visitor to the British Islands, the Arctic Tern, depositing its eggs on warm shingle under a June sun, must have been astonished to find it nesting in deep snow on a small islet off the north end of Bellot Island (lat. 81° 44' N.). In one nest was found a newly-hatched Tern, which seemed quite well and lively in its snow cradle. The parent birds had evidently thrown the snow out of the nest as it fell ; for.it was surrounded