The terrestrial mammals and birds of North-East Greenland. 17 



certain times of the day and resorted to the outlets of the rivers in 

 order to fish. Only S. spectabilis and Pagonetta glacialis always kept 

 to the small freshлvater lakes and ponds on land. 



The ice on the bays and inlets lay unbroken all the month 

 however; only it had changed character to a certain extent, as it 

 was strongly furrowed by open cracks in many places towards the 

 end of the month. 



Before the end of the month most of the freshwater lakes were 



Fig. 8. Summer landscape from Stormkap. July 1907. 



completely free from ice. A few larger, deep mountain lakes^in the 

 interior of the country lay covered with ice all the year round. 



Caused by the strong afflux of melt water large stretches of fen 

 were often quite or partly submerged, on which occasion several 

 nests of Tringa alpina were lost. The wading-birds and skuas were 

 now taken up with brooding. 



In the first week of July the summer was on its height. The 

 country was then in most places quite free from snow, and at no 

 time of the day or night the temperature was so low that it acted 

 injuriously on plant and animal life to any marked extent. The 

 scant, but on the other hand extremely graceful flora was perfectly 

 developed and gave in connexion with the by no means insignificant 



XLV. 2 



