24 A. L. V. Manniche. 



of animals going out from places, where the conditions have been 

 less unfavourable, the snowfall having been more important and 

 the storms less frequent. Such deviating climatic conditions might 

 be traced plainly in 1907 on the islands lying about 70 kilometer 

 to the south of Stormkap, in the neighbourhood of Teufelkap. 



I shall hereafter shortly mention some observations concerning 

 the birds, the breeding of which was partly or entirely dependent 

 on a normal ice-breaking, viz : both eider duck species, the long- 

 tailed duck, the large sea-gull {Laras glaucus) and the tern {Sterna 

 macrura). Of all the species here mentioned I found in August 

 1906 young ones in relatively large numbers. On the whole I had 

 the impression that in this particular summer all these sea-birds 

 were doing well, finding ample food and good breeding conditions. 

 Open water was to be found everywhere. The exact time for the 

 disappearance of the ice cannot of course be fixed with any cer- 

 tainty, but it seems to me most probable that already in the begin- 

 ning of July — as in the summer 1908 — the birds will have found 

 some open water, in consequence of which they don't hesitate to 

 build their nests. 



At the arrival of the here mentioned species in June 1907, the 

 ice lay everywhere quite unbroken on bays and inlets, being more 

 than 1 meter thick. Along the shore a single narrow tide water 

 crevice might be found here and there, but pools of melt water and 

 small openings which are otherwise common on the sea at this 

 time of the year, were sought for in vain by the birds. King-eiders 

 longtailed ducks, sea-gulls and terns found sufficient food however 

 in the partly open freshwater lakes on the mainland. Only the 

 common eider duck resorted as usual almost exclusively to the 

 above mentioned, sparingly occurring tide water crevices which 

 were also frequented now and then by terns and sea-gulls. 



The number of the arrived breeding birds corresponded exactly 

 to that on which I had reckoned, judging from my experiences of 

 1906. On the contrary the young, one and two years old sea-gulls 

 which had been so common the preceding summer, were now en- 

 tirely wanting. 



The king-eiders were still staying in pairs in the lakes, till the 

 males flew away towards the end of June. Normally the brooding 

 time of the females was at hand, but no signs of open sea water 

 appearing as yet, the birds assembled in small flocks instead of 

 building their nests, roving about for some days in the fresh waters 

 and leaving the country at last altogether, without having hatched 

 a single brood of young ones. The same was the case with the 



