Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/48

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notes have reference to a tour made in August last from Bergen to Vadsö in the Varanger Fjord, in the Bergen Steamship Company's boat the 'Neptune,' to view the total eclipse of the sun on August 9th. In crossing the North Sea from Newcastle to Stavanger very few sea-birds were seen—some Gulls, Guillemots, and an occasional Skua. When about half-way across, two Dolphins (Delphinus delphis) approached the boat and then shot ahead.

We left Bergen on August 1st at 11 p.m., and until we had rounded the North Cape were seldom outside the island belt (Skjærgaard) which fringes the whole length of the mainland. Opportunities were given, both on the out and return journey, for spending several hours on shore at those places where the vessel called—such were Aalesund, lovely Molde, Christianssund, N. Trondhjem, Torghatten, Harstedhavn in the Lofotens, Svartisen glacier, Tromsö, Hammerfest, North Cape (Hornvoek Bay), Vardö, reaching Vadsö at 3 p.m. on August 7th.

The commonest Gulls on the coast are the Lesser Black-backed and the Herring Gull, mixed flights of both following in the wake of the steamer almost continuously on the chance of picking up any scraps thrown overboard. Other Gulls were the Great Black-backed, the Common, and the Kittiwake; the latter, north of the Arctic Circle, being the predominant species and increasing in numbers the farther we go north. A few miles south of the Bird-rock (Hjelmsö), near the North Cape, we passed through an enormous flock of Kittiwakes floating in long extended line, the birds in the rear constantly rising and flying over the heads of those before them to take a front place. All were so eagerly feeding that they took little notice of the passage of our boat, being much too busily engaged picking some small object from the water, probably some of those small crustaceans which form the food of the whales. A large proportion were birds