408 P. Freuchen. 



female were still quite white; the mating season could not, however, 

 be far off. They are now found almost exclusively in pairs, otherwise 

 singly. They appear to be somewhat more numerous than on the coast 

 farther up near the inland ice. On our way out through Danmarks 

 Fjord we continually heard ptarmigan calling from the land. 



31st May. Shot a hen, with some few brown feathers. 



2nd June. Shot a hen, in full breeding dress (speckled). 



On the 5th June, (Peary Land) we saw a number of ptarmigan, 

 partly in pairs, also some solitary males. 



7th June. Shot a hen, with fully develoj)ed egg in the oviduct. 



8th June. Shot a hen, eggs not yet fully developed. 



On the 28th June, in Adam Bierings Land, we saw a great number 

 of ptarmigan. A single male bird sat persistently on a stone for whole 

 days as a time, quite close to our cooking place, returning again as often 

 as we drove it away. We tried hard to find its mate, but without suc- 

 cess. As we left, however, we saw both birds running rapidly about; 

 whether this was due to the fact that our dogs were now loose, and the 

 birds therefore wished to divert attention from their eggs or whether it 

 simply meant that the hen had got up to feed, I do not know. 



On the 4th July, Knud Rasmussen came upon a flock of young 

 ptarmigan in Valmuedalen; they were not yet fully fledged. He took 

 them to be about 14 days old. 



On the 6th July, w^e again saw a flock of young birds, hardly more 

 than a couple of days old. I had sat down to rest on one side of a small 

 valley, the birds being on the other, and discovered them when the 

 mother bird got up and commenced to flutter away. When I stood 

 still for a few minutes, the young birds raised their heads and began 

 to call for their mother ; the latter kept to the ground some little distance 

 off, finding it impossible to entice me away. It made a great deal of 

 noise all the time, screaming and flapping its wings. As soon as I moved 

 towards the young birds, they ducked down again, and the mother came 

 hurrying up right in front of me, trying to divert my attention to 

 herself. 



On the 10th July, we saw a ptarmigan protecting her young in 

 exactly the same manner against a stoat. In Game Land also the ptar- 

 migan were to be found wherever we went. 



On the 14th July we came across some young birds now able to 

 fly. These took to flight, instead of crouching down. At Peary's Cairn 

 on Navy Cliff we found a quantity of excrements showing that the ptar- 

 migan often sat here; these would perhaps be males keeping watch 

 while their mates were on the nest. 



On the 12th September we reached land on the west coast of Green- 

 land, and found flocks of ptarmigan, now in their white winter 

 dress. 



