Dan Meinertzhagen's Diary. 44 



very fine ones, all different, one of them with 

 large mauve blotches. 



From the top of the fell, yesterday, I got a 

 wonderful view of this part of Lapland covered 

 with fir forest, all except the snow-capped fells 

 around, most of them much higher than the one 

 on which I was standing. The slender twigs 

 of the birch against the dark green pines give a 

 mauve appearance, and this accounts for the 

 mauve belts one sees in the distance in the 

 forests. 



To-day is a wet day and consequently there 

 is a slump in noteworthy facts. Nilas told me 

 last night he knew of a Woodpecker's nest 

 with one egg, and we are going to visit it on 

 Saturday next. 



The common bird in these forests, the 

 Siberian Jay, Perisoreus infanstus (Linn.), is 

 one of the most amusing birds in the world — 

 tamer no bird could be, for wherever one walks 

 this bird accompanies. Its notes are most varied, 

 from a song as good as any Thrush's to a 

 scream resembling that of our British Jay. 

 The dead bird, or a stuffed bird in a museum, 

 looks a more or less sombre coloured bird ; but 

 a gleam of sunshine on its tail through the pine 

 trees makes it even brighter than the russet tail 

 of the Redstart. 



