The terrestrial mammals and birds of North-East Greenland. 21 



saw some sea-gulls {Lams glaucus) — old birds accompanied b}'^ 

 their newly fledged young ones. Small flocks of young eider ducks 

 and longtailed ducks I also met with here. The loons flew away 

 already in the beginning of the month. 



In the end of September open water was almost nowhere to 

 be found, and the last sea-birds left the country — evidently most 

 unwillingly. The passage of the falcon ceased and was to a certain 

 extent succeeded by that of the snowy owl. Besides a few small 

 flocks of snow-buntings, some ptarmigans and ravens comprised the 

 rest of the rich bird life of the summer. 



The hair change of the polar hare and arctic fox was finished 

 and their young had very nearly grown up. The ermine had changed 

 its brown summer dress for the white winter coat. The lemming 

 which had likewise donned its winter dress, was now more rarely 

 seen on snowless ground, but generally it resorted to places where 

 the first autumn snow had been heaped up in thick layers. 



With October winter again made its entry, bringing severe cold 

 and some snow-storms. In the first days of the month I still might 

 meet with a single, sadly chirruping snow-bunting on my wanderings. 

 Soon even that had disappeared; only the ptarmigans, ravens and 

 snowy owls were able to hold out with the sun. One of the very 

 last days of October the latter took its leave, and the last birds fled 

 with the light. 



While the cold in November became more and more percep- 

 tible, the downpour was considerably augmented. This last circum- 

 stance was, as before mentioned, of the greatest importance to the 

 two mammals which had the least power of resistance against the 

 cold: the lemming and the ermine. Under the large snow masses 

 the animals found a natural protection against the protracted cold 

 of winter. With regard to the other mammals living in the country 

 the conditions of life in November and December were very nearly 

 the same as mentioned under January. 



The observations about terrestrial mammals and birds which I 

 had the opportunity of making in the year 1907 — compared with 

 my experiences from the after-summer 1906 and the summer 1908 

 — seem to prove that the winter 1906—07 must have been unusu- 

 ally unfavourable to several higher animal forms, especially such, 

 in the case of which a not too low temperature, an ample autumn 

 downpour or a normal ice-breaking play an important part. 



An animal which attracted my attention to an extraordinary 

 extent through its varying appearance was the lemming {Myodes 





