The Birds of Angmagsalik. 219 
in the breeding time; it is different in the autumn and winter, for then 
at times large numbers gather, presumably birds from more northerly 
districts in East Greenland where, as a matter of fact, it commonly 
breeds, and during some winters many of them are seen at Angmagsalik. 
The Angmagsalik district does not seem to offer much attraction 
as a breeding place for the water-birds either. Ducks are only met with 
occasionally and scattered; they prefer plain-land with lakes and streams. 
The Mallard breeds here and there, in the autumn it stays round 
the ice-holes and current-runs, as long as there is open water; on some 
of the small islands the little Long-tailed Duck breeds, and towards 
the winter and spring time it is seen in flocks. Quite exceptionally, 
hardly every year, the handsome Harlequin Duck, whose appearance 
as a breeding bird in East Greenland is not otherwise known, occasionally 
breeds here; those which breed at Angmagsalik must presumably be 
looked upon as having come from Iceland, where the species is a com- 
mon breeding bird. In small colonies, of not more than ten couples, 
the Common Eider breeds; sometimes in the spring and autumn it is 
fairly common, but never appears in such numbers as in West Green- 
land and on the whole it is very irregular in its occurrence. As the last 
of the breeding ducks must be mentioned the very rare Red-breasted 
Merganser, which has otherwise only been seen at Scoresby Sound on the 
east coast, and then only once by Manniche, on the Denmark Expedition. 
As everywhere in Greenland, the Gulls are among the birds which 
give character to the landscape, but their number as breeding birds 
is not great in comparison with the crowds which are found in West 
Greenland. The giant of all gulls, the Great Black-backed Gull, breeds 
occasionally in the Angmagsalik district, the most northerly place in 
East Greenland where it has ever been seen. The Glaucous Gull and the 
Iceland Gull breed in not inconsiderable numbers, some on bird-cliffs 
and others on small islands, which the birds manure and create a luxuriant 
vegetation. On these islands the Arctic Tern also breeds; in several 
places it is met with in large colonies. The Kittiwake, which breeds in 
such enormous crowds in West Greenland, is on the other hand a very 
rare bird at Angmagsalik. 
Of Auks, which in West Greenland form such a large part 
of the bird-life, but which principally breed in the more northerly 
districts, there is at Angmagsalik only the Black Guillemot, which 
here, as in West Greenland, breeds scattered among the clefts in the 
rocks and is one of the commonest breeding birds; it breeds on the 
east coast as far north as it has been explored. | 
Of breeding birds there still remain the two Divers, the Great 
Northern Diver and the Red-throated Diver, which in spring come 
to the lakes as soon as these are free of ice. They are fairly numerous 
