Scientific work on the First Thule Expedition 1912. 403 



frequency with which we found whole skulls of lemmings, perfectly 

 unharmed, the remainder of the skeletons, however, being nowhere to 

 be seen. 



The lemmings appear to be more numerous in Adam Bierings Land 

 than at any other place we visited; Valmuedalen in particular was a 

 favourite haunt of theirs, and we found many winter nests there. A 

 number of small longtailed Skuas {Lestris longicauda) were also brooding 

 there. 



On the 28th of July, as I lay by the fire cooking, I caught sight 

 of a lemming a few paces away; it slipped off among some stones, and 

 reappeared again on a little hillock, where it sat upright on its hind- 

 quarters watching me. Before I could manage to secure it, it had dis- 

 appeared among the stones. 



At Nyeboes Bræ, between Adam Bierings Land and Game Land, 

 WT saw many traces of lemmings. 



In Game Land also the lemmings abounded. We found their winter 

 nests, while foxes, Skuas and stoat also told of their presence. We 

 did not actually see any, however. A couple of tracks were found leading 

 away from Game Land over the inland ice. 



4. Stoat. Miistela erminea. 



At several places in the Zigzag Valley we came upon the charac- 

 teristic tracks of the stoat, with the long jumps which it makes in loose 

 snow. Here and there I found holes in the snow, with tracks leading 

 to and from the same, which showed that they were the work of stoats. 

 I have seen similar holes when with the Danmark Expedition. 



On the 10th July, near Valmuedalen in Adam Bierings Land, we 

 saw one of these animals, in its summer coat, in chase of a ptarmigan 

 hen, which was leading it away from her chickens. I went towards it, 

 but it disappeared among the rocks. 



On the 15th of July we shot a male stoat, in brown summer dress, 

 in the "High Road"Valley, Game Land. The body was unfortunately 

 lost, however; we left it between some stones, to be called for later, 

 but when we returned a couple of days later it had been taken by foxes. 

 We had first sighted the creature at a couple of metres distance, as it 

 sat in the crevice of a rock, with the upper part of its body projecting: 

 when shot, it jumped up to a considerable height and fell back dead 

 — exactly as does a fox when shot through the head. 



5. Arctic fox. Canis lagopiis. 



Wherever we went, we found numerous traces of foxes, the animals 

 themselves being sighted several times. On the west coast of Greenland, 

 the foxes are mostly encountered near the shore, especially in the vicinity 

 of bird cliffs; here, however, they appeared to be fairly evenly distri- 

 buted throughout the country. The excrements, and the holes dug in 



