2 44 О. HELMSs. 
WHIMBREL (Numenius phaeopus phaeopus L.). 
Lille Spove. Е. Gr.: Siggutak = He of the long bill. 
The species is not rarely met with at Angmagsalik; the first are seen 
May 10th and the last June 22nd; outside this period it has only been 
met with once, in July, and once in October. Now and again it is seen 
near the Colony, but most of the specimens have been brought to Petersen 
from various places in the Angmagsalik district. Usually the bird appears 
to be shghtly shy. It might be supposed that it breeds here, but so 
far this has not been ascertained, nor is it known that it breeds in West 
Greenland, where it is also met with frequently. The East Greenland 
Whimbrel presumably comes from Iceland, where it breeds in large 
numbers; on the Scandinavian peninsular and in Northern Russia it is 
also a common breeding bird. On the whole it is a bird that is inclined 
to wander far, and it is possible that those that are met with in East 
Greenland are immature birds. 
During the course of the years Petersen mentions sixteen shot birds 
received, and of these were sent home: 
1) June 16th, 1901 (head only). Length of bill (after the bend) 93 mm. 
June, 1902. Wings 245 mm., Tail 100 mm. Bill (after bend) 80 mm. 
3) June, 1902 (head only). Bill (after bend) 80 mm. 
4) June, 1908. 
ee Fs 
7) May 10th, 1913. 
8) 1917 
2) 
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) 
) 
6) te åth, 1907. 
) 
) 
) 
9 October 25th, 1909. 
COMMON CURLEW (Numenius arquata arquata L.). 
Storspove. 
Whereas the Whimbrel, as stated above, is by no means rare in 
Greenland, the Common Curlew was unknown there until Petersen 
received the first on August 23rd, 1913. On it he writes in his diary: 
“Today one of the parson’s sons shot a Curlew close to the houses here; 
it was so emaciated that I hardly think it would have lived many days 
longer if it were to have remained in our neighbourhood”. Regarding 
a number of the shot specimens of the Whimbrel he writes that they, 
too, were emaciated, and as a matter of fact the hard ground at Ang- 
magsalik will not provide much food for these long-billed birds. The 
natives explain it in another manner, as they believe that the bill con- 
tinues to grow and thus makes it impossible for the bird to secure food, 
so that it must die of hunger. 
