The terrestrial mammals and birds of Nortli-East Greenland. HQ 



upon my ai*i'ival they would only swim out in the lake, from which 

 they, accompanied by the males, uttered a hideous screaming or 

 mewing and awaited my departure. 



All the nests I found contained two eggs. These vary some- 

 what, however not so much in colour as in size and shape. 



The nests were almost always placed under similar conditions: 

 Close to the water in places sparsely overgrown with grass or other 

 vegetation. 



The nest is built of half rotten stalks of plants fetched from the 

 bottom of the low M'ater near the nest and soaked with water; a 

 few fresh stalks, cut off by aid of the bill of the bird, are placed 

 around the border of the nest. 



July the 10*'^ I observed a female busy in building her nest; 

 this was ready the next day, but it took 5 days before the first egg 

 was laid. One day later the bird was brooding on two eggs. 



Two almost full-grown young ones still guarded by the old fe- 

 male were secured September the 4'^^ 1906 on a pond at Snenæs. 

 The greater part of this pond was already covered with new ice. 



A great many Divers used to settle in Lakseelven as well as 

 in its mouth, the bay and the surrounding lakes. They fed mainly 

 — almost exclusively — on the common Northern Charr (Salmo 

 alpinus) which occurred in vast numbers in these places. Nearly 

 all the fresh-water lakes also contain great numbers of trout. 



I very often found remnants of plants in the stomachs of those 

 Divers, which were shot soon after their arrival when the birds 

 had to content themselves with pools of melting snow and other 

 small ponds. 



The Diver has a pugnacious temper and is quarrelsome especi- 

 ally against birds of its own kin. 



I could daily observe the habits of the Divers at my summer 

 station at Stormkap as well in the ponds up country as in the 

 mouth of Stormelven, where the birds resorted for fishing at 

 certain times of the day. While lying on the water the bird utters 

 a hideous sound rather like the mew of an angry cat, but during its 

 high, beautiful rapid and enduring flight it utters a strong cackling. 



I have seen them circling in the air for hours until they — 

 called by a screaming companion — swift as lightning rushed down 

 through the air finally landing with an audible splash in the Avater 

 sliding a long wa}' on the surface. 



Immediately the melodious cackling changes to a most hideous 

 mewing, which is uttered for some moments by the bird which has 

 descended and the companions which Ьале called it down. 



