THE BIEDS OF GREENLAND. 245 



country too cold and wet for it, and that there is no risk of 

 Greenland being overrun like the United States and Canada. 



The most interesting of the avian visitors during the 

 summer is the Snow Bunting. They arrive early in April, 

 departing again about the middle of October. Mr. Hagerup has 

 never seen one in winter ; it is chiefly in April, when the country 

 is still buried in snow, that their glorious song is most appreciated. 

 In 1888 the earliest eggs were found on May 26th, the last on 

 June 14th. All the nests found were built between stones, 

 sometimes far in among the heaps. The Lapland Bunting was 

 the least common of the songsters at Ivigtut; it frequents damp 

 places covered with grass and bushes, but not observed higher 

 than 200 feet above sea-level. In numbers it bore the following 

 ratio to other small birds:— one to five of the Wheatears; one 

 to twenty of the Snow Bunting ; and one to thirty of the Eedpoll. 

 The song is short and of an extremely melancholy nature. 



The number of Ptarmigan, Lagopus rupestris (Bernhardt), 

 near Ivigtut is considerably increased in the winter by migrants 

 from the north. In the first winter of 1866, a very severe one, 

 about 400 were shot; in 1887, a mild winter, about double that 

 number. They are very late in getting their summer dress, the 

 females in June, and the males a month later, and they do not 

 appear to acquire in the summer the black feathers of the breast, 

 as do the males of our Scotch Ptarmigan, L. mutus. 



Barrow's Goldeneye, Clangula islandica, is said to breed in 

 small numbers as far north as 69° or 70°; it occurs near Ivigtut, 

 but must be rare, as neither Danes nor Greenlanders knew it. 



The beautiful Harlequin Duck is a summer visitor, and 

 breeds quite commonly as far north as 69°; it arrives about 

 April, and leaves again early in November. In summer the 

 males collect in small numbers on the fjord. 



The King Eider nests sparingly between 67° and 73° N., but 

 north of 73° is more numerous. They arrived at Ivigtut about 

 the middle of February in great numbers, and for the next four 

 weeks were more plentiful than the Common Eider, but after 

 this less in proportion till by the middle of April few remained. 

 It is common in South Greenland in the winter. The eggs of 

 the Greenland Wild Duck, Anas boschas, are considerably larger 

 than those of the European bird. 



The Kittiwake arrived at Ivigtut about the end of March or 



