Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) were used to investigate the adsorption of nitrogen gas on a polycrystalline zirconium surface at room temperature. it was found that the adsorption of nitrogen is saturated at an exposure of similar to 10 L, the thickness of the nitride formed on the specimen surface is 0.4-0.5 nm at a nitrogen exposure of 100 L, and the surface has the same large electronic density of states 4-5 eV below the Fermi energy as ZrN, The measured AES and EELS spectra are consistent with the electronic structure calculated for the Zr(0001)-(1X1)-N structure.