SOME WANDERINGS IN THE NORTH OF FINLAND. 101' 



Most conspicuous everywhere were families of Wagtails, 

 bright spots of yellow and grey, running as only Wagtails 

 can run, on the roads, the roofs of the houses, and the floating 

 timber logs. Many of them were White Wagtails, but there 

 were numbers of Yellow Wagtails too, not quite the same 

 as our Yellow Wagtail which you can see in the meadows 

 here during the summer, but two near relations, called 

 Blue-headed, and Grey-headed ; it was not unusual to have 

 all three species round us at the same time. 



In the forest we made the acquaintance of a new tit- 

 mouse with a brown head, called the Lapp Tit, which was 

 often to be found in the company of a large variety of our 

 Marsh Tit ; and I shall not easily forget our excitement one 

 day as we were drifting down the river in a boat, when we 

 were startled by a curious bleating noise and saw two Great 

 Black Woodpeckers on the pine trees on the bank. They 

 are large birds, always making weird noises, and we often 

 saw them again — a country so full of dead trees and in- 

 sects must be a paradise for them. 



It was generally possible, too, to see some rough-legged 

 Buzzard, circling high in the air, and to hear his kitten- 

 like cry. One soon learns to distinguish between a Buzzard 

 and an Osprey, even at a distance, for the Buzzard's wings 

 seem quite straight and at right angles to his body, but the 

 Osprey's wings are bent, and if you watch him long enough 

 you will very likely see him hover. Many other birds there 

 were, but staffed specimens can give you little idea of 

 what they are like when alive. 



After a week at Rovaniemi we managed to get our lug- 

 gage sent back to Tornea, and started to walk across the 

 forest westwards, aiming at Alkula, a small town on the 

 river Tornea. We were told that there was no track, but 

 that if we walked 15 miles northwards by the side of 



