BIRDS OF IVIGTUT. 13 



In May they assemble in smaller flocks, and are less shy. 

 About two thousand lay their eggs on the front of a perpen- 

 dicular cliff situated at the head of the fjord. The lowest 

 nests may easily be reached from a boat ; the highest are 

 about one hundred and fifty feet above the sea. The eggs 

 are laid chiefly during the first ten days of June, and the 

 young fly from their nests about the middle of August. 

 (The earliest date on which I have seen a young bird is the 

 7th of August.) After that they generally go about in 

 small flocks or singly, and keep comparatively silent. On 

 a few occasions only, on August afternoons, I have seen 

 large flocks of five hundred to one thousand individuals rise 

 to a great height and fly toward the ocean. 



During the autumn these Gulls have a daily route, in the 

 morning, inland along the fjord, and in the afternoon out 

 along the fjord toward the sea, where they probably remain 

 over night. This is directly opposite to the custom of the 

 Eider Duck in winter, and of the large young Gulls in sum- 

 mer ; these fly up the fjord inland as night approaches. 

 Some days, especially when rain is falling and the wind is 

 high, they fly rather near the shore ; but usually not nearer, 

 than five hundred feet. Only twice have I seen them, sitting 

 on land, except at their nests. On one occasion I saw a, 

 single bird, probably a sick one, alight on the shore ; and 

 again, on the 3d of June, I saw a number of Gulls plucking 

 moss on the cliffs along the fjord, about nine miles distant 

 from their nesting-ground, and then fly about without any 

 apparent object, holding the moss in their bills. What they 

 meant by this I could not understand, for there was plenty 

 of moss in the neighborhood of their nests. 



During June the Gulls feed to a great extent on a small 

 fish (Mallotus arcticus) which comes to the surface in vast 

 numbers. They also follow whales and seals. By throwing 



