Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/435

Rh that the birds were nearly all in flight, and were, with rare exceptions, the males. The length of the slope on which they were congregated was about a mile, and a constant stream of birds was rushing over it, but a few feet above the stones ; and, after making in their rapid flight the whole length of the hill, they returned higher in the air, performing over and over again the complete circuit. Occasionally a few hundreds or thousands of them would drop down, as if following some leader; and in an instant the rocks, for a space of several rods, would swarm all over with them, their black backs and pure white breasts speckling the hill very prettily.

"While I was watching these movements with much interest, my com- panion was intent only upon business, and warned me to lie lower, as the birds saw me and were flying too high overhead. Having at length got myself stowed away to the satisfaction of my savage companion the sport began. The birds were beginning again to whirl their flight closer to our heads— so close, indeed, did they come that it seemed almost as if I could catch them with my cap. Presently I observed my companion preparing himself as a flock of unusual thickness was approaching ; and, in a moment, up went the net ; a half-dozen birds flew bang into it, and, stunned with the blow, they could not flutter out before Kalutunah had slipped the staff quickly through his hands and seized the net ; with his left hand he now pressed down the birds, while with the right he drew them out, one by one, and, for want of a third hand, he used his teeth to crush their heads. The wings were then locked across each other, to keep them from fluttering away ; and, with an air of triumph, the old fellow looked around at me, spat the blood and feathers from his mouth, and went on with the sport, tossing up his net and hauling it in with much rapidity, until he had caught about a hundred birds ; when, my curiosity being amply satisfied, we returned to camp and made a hearty meal out of the game which we had bagged in this novel and unsportsmanlike manner."*

Eider Ducks were breeding in considerable numbers on some rocky islets near Reindeer Point, and about fifty were brought on board. A few Kittiwakes and Glaucous Gulls were flying around.

After a pull of a couple of miles up the fiord, we landed at the village of Etah, a spot very familiar to the readers of Dr. Kane's narrative. The settlement consisted of three stone "igloos" and one roofed over with canvas spread on spars. The place was deserted. The village is situated in a sheltered nook overshadowed by gneiss rocks, with a good look-out to the south and west. Traces of recent occupation were visible on all sides ; the igloos

'The Open Polar Sea,' pp. 390—392.