Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/402

378 to this port we passed close to a superb iceberg: it had a lofty arch piercing its very centre, through which shone the warm colours of the midnight sun. This iceberg, ai least two hundred feet out of the water, was streaked with saphirine-blue, and close to the water's edge with vivid green ; hundreds of Fulmars, and many Arctic Terns, were perched on it. As the 'Valorous,' following us, showed through the crystal arch the effect was magnificent. On shore at Ritenbenk we found young Wheatears, Lapland Buntings, and Snow Buntings, able to fly ; the young Ptarmigans, L. rupestris, were following their parents. The crops of these newly-hatched birds contained blossoms of Vaccinium uliginosum, and the young buds of Cassiope tetragona.

A party from our ships visited a breeding place of sea-fowl, on Arveprins Island, for the purpose of obtaining a supply of fresh meat: a large number of Alca brunnichi and A. tarda, a Glaucus Gull, two Kittiwakes, two King Eiders, and a common Eider, were brought back by the gunners. A young Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo, with only one wing developed, was taken from its nest: the head of the humerus was rounded, and there was an entire absence of radius and ulna; the bird was nearly as large as an adult, and well nourished ; its Stomach contained four ounces of gneiss pebbles. One of the Razorbills had its hatching-spot on the side under the wing, and not on the belly, as usual : this bird during incubation must have lain on its side.

On Arveprins Island we came on a deserted burial ground: the tombs, some twenty in number, had been originally built with blocks of gneiss, covered over will) slabs of the same material ; all had fallen down. These tombs had been raised over the corpse, the rocky nature of the ground having prevented the digging of a grave. The few fragments of human bones left lav on the surface of the rock : no implements of any kind were to be found.

At Ritenbenk we parted company with the 'Valorous,' and said good-bye with regret to our kind friends. During my stay at Godhavn I had the opportunity of sharing in some dredging operations, under the guidance of Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, who, to complete his personal acquaintance with the fauna of the northern seas, had undertaken the long and trying voyage to Greenland, on board the 'Valorous.'* Here, also, we had to say adieu to

The biological results of this cruise, by Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., are published in the Proc. Roy. Soc, 1870.