Dan Meinertzhagen's Diary. 57 



and saw absolutely no birds but Whimbrels, 

 Bramblings, and Redwings. Down the other 

 side into the valley of the Ounasjoki, a walk 

 of about fifteen miles brought us in the 

 evening to the river itself. We saw a pair of 

 Goosanders on a small lake on the way, and 

 I shot a dark coloured squirrel (orava). 



I got some coffee and milk at a small house 

 here to-night, and I saw also a nice bed of hay. 

 The old man showed me a miscellaneous collec- 

 tion of eggs, containing some of the common 

 English Thrush eggs, which he considered 

 very rare and wanted me to buy, and he also 

 had a mummified young Black Woodpecker, 

 which he got in the forest behind the house. 



The river is not so big as the Muonio, but is 

 apparently full of pike, as I saw plenty of small 

 ones all along the bank. 



May i6th. — This morning my Finn guide did 

 not appear, and I thought probably he was 

 unwell, but a Lapp who had arrived during the 

 night indicated that he knew of some nests, by 

 repeating several birds' names, and so I started 

 off with him in a boat up the river, leaving the 

 Finn behind and my bag containing the food, 

 intending to return at night. We went up close 

 to the bank, he rowing and I steering, and both 

 of us punting at the rapids for about five miles, 



