The teirestrial mammals and birds of North-East Greenland. 



165 



The next days the ice conditions became much worse and con- 

 sequently I could not force my way to the nesting place, but was 

 obliged to wait for open water; consequently I did not succeed in 

 examining the nests of the Ivory-Gulls before July 18*^. 



At the spot indicated by the Greenlander I found within an 

 area of 50 n meters 7 empty, newbuilt nests, all of them, however, 

 showed signs of having contained eggs. I feel sure, that these had 

 been removed by the crews of some Norvegian whaling vessels that 

 July 10*b visited Renskæret and the surrounding isles for the pur- 



Fig. 13. Nest of Ivory-Gull. 



pose — as the master told me — of collecting eggs. When the 

 Eskimo visited the breeding-colony June 28*^ this consisted of but 

 3 nests; the other 4 must then have been built in the time from 

 June 28»^ to July 10^^. (The day at which the plundering took 

 place.) 



The nests were situated at the east-side of the island on a range 

 of cliff very near the field-ice elevated some two meters over the 

 level of the sea, quite level at the top and barren. The nests were 

 of quite the same exterior and built of the same materials. The 

 hollows of the nests, the diameter of which measured 16 cm., were 

 lined with soft moss and a few thin straws, and were surrounded 



