The terrestrial mammals and birds of North-East Greenland. 173 



Buffons Skua. Lestris longicauda (Vieil.). 



Extremely common breeding-bird on the mainland and the larger 

 islands. I met with breeding Skuas in the most desolate places far 

 from the open sea at the very head of the longest fjords. On the 

 smaller islets however I did not find it. I got but scanty informa- 

 tion concerning the occurrence of this species farther north. Koch 

 and Bertelsen did not meet with it farther North than N. Lat. 80°57' 

 (June the 6'^ 1907). 



In Brønlund's posthumous diary the Skua is not recorded and 

 I therefore feel sure that it does not breed in the "Danmark's Fjord" 

 region. 



During the navigation through the pack-ice this Skua was fre- 

 quently seen, generally immature birds. 



As there was a marked difference in the breeding habits of this 

 species in the three summers of our staj^ I shall give extracts of 

 my notes for the three years. 



On the arrival of the expedition in the middle of August 1906 

 I found the species abundant nearly everywhere. Numerous breeding 

 couples were seen, for instance on Koldewey-Islands at Кар Marie 

 Valdemar, the ship's-harbour, Hvalrosodden and Stormkap. 



The Stormkap district was the most thickly populated lo- 

 cality, and here I counted some 30 — 40 couples evenly distributed 

 all over the place. The fledglings were sitting round about on 

 blocks of stone and clods, still carefully guarded and fed by the 

 parents. One late hatched chick, scarcely a week old, was seen on 

 August 17**^ on a little bog not far from the ship's-harbour. 



A great number of stomach analyses showed, that both the 

 young ones and the old birds fed on Lemmings, which this summer 

 occurred in vast multitudes. The extreme fatness of the young ones 

 gave evidence of the great "embarras de richesse". 



I was therefore surprised to find, that all the couples, with but 

 one exception, had only one young one, though the rule as far as 

 I know should be two. 



Besides the breeding birds and the birds of the year I daily 

 noticed smaller parties of individuals 1 and 2 j^ears old, hunting 

 Lemmings. 



While the old birds would stick very devotedh' to their breeding 

 quarters inland, where they, as before said, hunted Lemmings and 

 nothing else, the immature non-breeding birds could be met with 

 both out at sea and along the coast line. 



At the end of August the parents ceased to feed the young, and 

 all the Skuas in the country departed immediately after. I saw 



