Almost equally common with the preceding is the Colymbus troile, a clumsy bird, weighing two pounds or upwards, and measuring only sixteen or seventeen inches in length, and twenty-eight inches across the wings, when full spread, in breadth. It cannot rise on the wing in any direction except to windward. If it attempts to fly to leeward, it runs for a considerable distance along the surface of the water, and at length falls into it. Both in this instance and that of the doveca, shortness of tail is compensated for by the feet, which are used as a rudder in flying. The Colymbus glacialis was seen by captain Phipps on the coast of Spitzbergen.
The sea-swallow, or great tern, Sterna hirundo, is an elegant bird, common on the shore of Spitzbergen, but is not met with at a distance from land. Its length is seven or eight inches, and including the tail fourteen, and the spread of its wings twenty-nine or thirty inches. It flies with great ease and swiftness, and to a considerable height. It defends its eggs and young with great boldness from the Arctic gull, and even descends within a yard of the head of any person who ventures to molest them, startling him with its loud screams. It lays its eggs among the shingle of the beach above high-water mark, where the full power of the sun falls.
There are several varieties of the gull tribe. The kittywake, Larus rissa, is seen in every part of the northern Atlantic from Britain to the highest latitudes. It is a better fisher than its enemy, the Arctic gull, Larus parasiticus, by whom it is pursued until it gives up the food it has procured. The latter kind of gull lives at the expense of its neighbours, preying upon their eggs and their young. Larus crepidatus and Larus eburneus are other varieties. The latter, remarkable for its immaculate whiteness, is as ravenous as the fulmar. Larus glaucus, burgomaster, is the chief magistrate of the feathered tribe in the Spitzbergen regions, as none of its class dare dispute its authority, or refuse at its bidding to surrender their prey. It is a large and powerful bird, twenty-eight inches in length, and five inches in breadth across the wings. The kittywake, snow-bird, and burgomaster, are sometimes shot for the sake of their feathers. The two latter species are very shy. They are shot with the greatest ease, however, from a house built of snow on the ice. The Tringa hypoleucos, sandpiper, and the Emberiza nivalis, snow-bunting, are inhabitants also of these regions. A bird of great delicacy and smallness is Fringilla linaria, the lesser redpole. On our approach to Spitzbergen, several of this species alighted on the ship, and were, apparently, so wearied by flight that they allowed themselves to be taken alive. It is difficult to understand how this small bird manages to perform the journey from Spitzbergen to a milder climate, without becoming exhausted and perishing by the way.
The Amphibia, Fishes, Animalcules, etc., must conclude our sketch of the zoology of the Arctic regions.
In the class Amphibia, the most notable personage is the Greenland shark, Squalus borealis. It has not, I believe, been described. The ventral fins are separate. It is without anal fin, but has the temporal opening, and it belongs, therefore, to the third division of the genus. The spiracles on the neck are five in number on each side. The colour is cinereous grey. The eyes are the most extraordinary part of the animal. The pupil is emerald green, the rest of the eye blue. To the posterior edge of the pupil is attached a white vermiform substance, one or two inches in length. Each extremity of it consists of two filaments, but the central part is single. The sailors imagine this shark is blind, because it pays not the least attention to the presence of a man, and is, indeed, so apparently stupid, that it never draws back when a blow is aimed at it with a knife or a lance. It is twelve or fourteen feet in length, and six or eight feet in circumference, and in general form very much resembles the dog-fish. It is one of the foes of the whale. It bites and annoys it when living, and feeds on it when dead. With its teeth, which are serrated in one jaw, and lancet-shaped and denticulated in the other, it scoops out of the body of the whale pieces as large as a person’s head, and continues scooping and gorging till its belly is filled. It is so insensible to pain that, though run through the body with a knife, it will return to its food, and for some hours after its heart is taken out, or its body cut in pieces, they will continue to show signs of life. It does not, so far as I am aware, attack the fishers.
In the class Pisces, Gadus carbonarius, the coal-fish, was procured by captain Phipps, as also of the former class, Cyclopterus liparis, during his stay in the vicinity of Spitzbergen. Mullus barbatus was taken out of the mouth of a seal by a seaman, near Spitzbergen. It was boiled by our officers, and proved an excellent dish.
In the class Articulata are one or two species of gammarus. The G. arcticus of Leach, the actions of which suggest as a familiar name, the mountebank shrimp. There are also various crabs, and the Oniscus ceti of Linnæus, or whale’s louse. This little animal is about half an inch in diameter, and firmly fixes itself by hooked claws on the skin of the mysticetus. It is found under the fin, and wherever the skin is tender, and it is not likely to be dislodged. A similar animal, though smaller, is found on the body of the narwal.
In the class Vermes are several species found in various animals inhabiting the northern seas. The sea-snail, Clio helicina, is an animal covered with a delicately beautiful sheet, similar to that of the nautilus. The diameter is from two-eighths to three-eighths of an inch. It is found in great quantities near the coast of Spitzbergen. The Clio borealis occurs in vast numbers in some situations near Spitzbergen, but is not found generally in the Arctic Seas. In swimming, it brings the tips of its fins almost into contact, first oil one side and then on another. I kept several of them alive in a glass of sea-water for about, a month, when they gradually wasted away and died.
The cuttle-fish, Sepia, were found by me in large numbers in the stomachs of the narwals.
More than six or seven kinds of Medusæ may be distinguished, among which may be named, Medusa pileus, and the purse-shaped, bottle-shaped, and orange-coloured medusæ. Medusa pileus is one of the most curious of the tribe. It consists of eight lobes, with a beautiful, irridescent, finny fringe on the external edge of each. A canal, four-fifths the length of the animal, penetrates the centre of it, and two red cirrhi, which may be extended to the length of nearly a foot, proceed from a crooked cavity in opposite sides. The animal is semi-transparent, the colour white, and the finny fringes of deeper red. It is found of various sizes.