Part 42

Hovgaard, A. Nordenskiöld’s Voyage Round Asia and Europe, a Popular Account of the North-east Passage of the Vega, 1878-80 (Trans. by H. L. Brækstad, 8vo, London, 1882).

Pennant’s Arctic Zoology (1785).

Note 1: p. 38.--Dense masses of fish.

I have consulted a Scandinavian pisciculturist, who, while not corroborating the occurrence of such vast multitudes, admitted the periodic appearance of dense local swarms, such as are sometimes seen in the lochs in the west of Scotland.

Note 2: p. 45.--The female eider-duck plucking the male.

The popular story of the male eider being made to furnish down for the nest, after the mother-bird’s supply is exhausted, must, we fear, be regarded as a misstatement. See Newton’s Dictionary of Birds (London, 1893), and other authoritative works on ornithology. Perhaps the story has some basis in the fact that for a short time after the breeding season the males undergo a change of plumage, becoming less decorative and more like the females.

Note 3: p. 48.--Economic value of eider-down.

According to Stejneger, each nest yields about an ounce and a third. From Greenland and Iceland alone, six thousand pounds, or the contents of seventy-two thousand nests, are yearly exported. Nordenskiöld notes that the quantity of eider-down brought from the polar lands to Tromsöe amounted in 1868 to 540 kilogrammes, in 1869 to 963, in 1870 to 882, in 1871 to 630, in 1872 to 306, and that the total annual yield may be probably estimated at three times as much.

Note 4: p. 57.--Auks.

A graphic description of the King-auks (Alle alle), which breed in Spitzbergen, is given by Nordenskiöld in the work above mentioned.

The name auk is oftenest applied only to the razor-bills, but is also used collectively for other members of the family Alcidæ, such as guillemots and puffins.

Note 5: p. 59.--Altrices and Præcoces.

Altrices or nidicolæ are those birds which are more or less helpless when hatched. They are often blind and naked, and unable to leave the nest. The food-yolk has been mostly or wholly used up before birth, and the young depend on what their parents bring them. Examples are doves, hawks, and passerine birds.

Præcoces or nidifugæ are those birds which are more or less able to run about when hatched. They are born with their eyes open, with a covering of down, and with much of their yolk still unused. Examples are running birds, fowl, gulls, and ducks.

THE TUNDRA AND ITS ANIMAL LIFE.

In addition to Nordenskiöld’s voyage, and other works already cited, the following may be consulted by those who wish to amplify their picture of the Tundra and its life:--

Seebohm. Siberia in Asia (1882).

Jackson, F. G. The Great Frozen Land (Bolshaia Zemelskija Tundra). Narrative of a winter journey across the Tundras and a sojourn among the Samoyedes (ed. from the author’s journal by A. Montefiore, 8vo, London, 1895).

Note 6 and 7: pp. 63 and 71.--The Tundra.

With Brehm’s picture of the Tundra, it is interesting to compare that given by Mr. Seebohm in his address to the Geographical Section of the British Association at Nottingham, 1893. (Scottish Geogr. Magazine, ix. (1893), pp. 505-23, with map.)

“In exposed situations, especially in the higher latitudes, the tundra does really merit its American name of Barren Ground, being little else than gravel beds interspersed with bare patches of peat or clay, and with scarcely a rush or a sedge to break the monotony. In Siberia, at least, this is very exceptional. By far the greater part of the tundra, both east and west of the Ural Mountains, is a gently undulating plain, full of lakes, rivers, swamps, and bogs. The lakes are diversified with patches of green water plants, amongst which ducks and swans float and dive; the little rivers flow between banks of rush and sedge; the swamps are masses of tall rushes and sedges of various species, where phalaropes and ruffs breed, and the bogs are brilliant with the white fluffy seeds of the cotton-grass. The groundwork of all this variegated scenery is more beautiful and varied still--lichens and moss of almost every conceivable colour, from the cream-coloured reindeer-moss to the scarlet-cupped trumpet-moss, interspersed with a brilliant alpine flora, gentians, anemones, saxifrages, and hundreds of plants, each a picture in itself, the tall aconites, both the blue and yellow species, the beautiful cloudberry, with its gay white blossom and amber fruit, the flagrant Ledum palustre and the delicate pink Andromeda polifolia. In the sheltered valleys and deep water-courses a few stunted birches, and sometimes large patches of willow scrub, survive the long severe winter, and serve as cover for willow-grouse or ptarmigan. The Lapland bunting and red-throated pipit are everywhere to be seen, and certain favoured places are the breeding grounds of plovers and sandpipers of many species. So far from meriting the name of Barren Ground, the tundra is for the most part a veritable paradise in summer. But it has one almost fatal drawback--it swarms with millions of mosquitoes.”

Note 8: p. 72.--The Mammoth.

The Mammoth (Elephas primigenius) was a near relative of the Indian elephant, if not indeed a variety of the same species. One of its characteristics was a woolly covering of brownish hair, rudimentary traces of which have been found in the Indian species.

It was abundant in Europe before the glacial epoch, and seems to have been especially common in Siberia. Lydekker’s Royal Natural History gives a good account of the finding of the mammoth, and the striking fact is noticed that the imports of fossil ivory into England prove that, within a period of twenty years, over 20,000 mammoths must have been discovered.

As Brehm describes, the carcasses are found frozen in the soil, to all appearance just as the animals died, but the explanation of this is obscure. The particular case to which he alludes was one of the earliest finds--by Adams in 1806. Before Adams reached the carcass, which had been known for some years, the dogs of the yakuts had eaten most of the flesh.

See also Vogt’s Natural History of Mammals.

Note 9: p. 73.--Colour of the Arctic Fox.

On the interesting question of the winter colour-change, Mr. Poulton’s Colours of Animals and Mr. Beddard’s Animal Coloration should be consulted.