134 EJNAR MIKKELSEN. 
only a couple of days old. Two of the kittens, which we caught, were 
kept alive during the whole of the summer. Lemmings there were also 
in plenty, and a very large number of their winter-nests were scattered 
over the plain. These small animals are eaten by foxes, which were 
likewise rather numerous. A couple of wolves came to our vicinity 
during the early part of September. 
Of land-birds we saw several kinds of waders, ptarmigans and geese, 
which preferably had their nests on small islets in the middle of the 
large, temporary melting water-ponds on land. We saw many snow- 
buntings during the whole of the summer, but it was not till the migra- 
tion began during the latter part of August that we realised, how ex- 
tremely numerous these birds were. They seemed to gather on the low 
plains north of Cape Philip Broke, and from there they flew in flocks, 
larger than any I had ever seen before. It is difficult to estimate the 
number of such a large flock of small birds, but there must have been 
thousands, and flock after flock passed over our house. We noticed 
the first flock on August 27th and the last on August 31st, but occasional 
stagglers were seen much later. 
Ravens we saw during the whole of the summer, and seven falcons 
came to our house on Sept. 11th and remained there until we left. 
Of seabirds we saw eiderducks, looms, glaukous, arctic skuas, fulmars 
and terns. Eiderducks were — as far as we could make out — the 
last migratory birds to leave the country, and as late as on Sept. 8th 
we shot a young bird, which was not more than half-grown, and the body 
of which was covered with down, through which only a few feathers 
projected. The parent birds were however not to be seen and may 
have left the country and the young bird, which for some reason or 
other was late in developing. 
The vegetation on the land surrounding Cape Philip Broke was 
rather luxuriant, but only consisted of very few species. There were 
several kinds of grasses, willows and mosses. Of flowers there were only 
the yellow poppies, which all began to bloom almost at the same time 
during the few hours between bedtime on June 26th and the morning 
of June 27th, presumably as a consequence of a sunny day. 
The summer of 1911 must have been more warm than the summer 
of 1909. 
In 1909 when on August 25th we had reached Shannon Island, 
we found very thick ice on all ponds, and the land was frozen hard, 
but this year, on Sept. Ist and even later, we found all ponds free of 
ice, and the ground was so soft that we sank 4 4 8cm into it while 
walking, and even during the latter part of September we were able 
to make impressions on the clayey ground with our kamicks. 
When we went down to Cape Philip Broke, it was our intention to 
wait there until August Ist, and if no ship had come until then, to return 
to our winter-quarter and try to get Capt. AMDRUP's boat into the water, 
