194 Mr. J. Wolley, jun., on the 



third egg to be placed between them. The nest, about two feet 

 across, was nearly flat, made chiefly of light-coloured grass or 

 hay loosely matted together, scarcely more than two inches in 

 depth, and raised only two or three inches from the general 

 level of the swamp. There were higher sites close by, and many 

 of them would have seemed more eligible. 



It was just at the lowest edge of the strip, but so much ex- 

 posed, that I thought I should be able to see even the eggs them- 

 selves from a spot at a considerable distance, to which I proposed 

 to go. There was a common story amongst the people of the 

 country, that a Crane, if its nest were disturbed, would carry oflF 

 its eggs under its wing to another place ; so I purposely handled 

 one of the eggs, and hung up a bit of birch bark on a birch tree 

 beyond the nest, as a mark by which to direct my telescope. 

 Then I went with Ludwig to a clump of spruce growing on some 

 dry sandy land which rose out of the midst of the marsh. Here 

 I made a good ambuscade of spruce boughs, crept into it, got 

 Ludwig to cover me so that even the Crane's eye could not 

 distinguish me, and sent him to make a fire to sleep by on the 

 far side of the wood, with strict orders on no account to come 

 near my hiding-place. I kept my glass in the direction of the 

 nest, but it was long before I saw anything stir. In the mean 

 time the marsh was by no means quiet; Rufi"s were holding 

 something between a European ball and an East Indian nautch. 

 Several times " keet-koot, keet-koot," to use the words by which 

 the Finns express the sound, told where the Snipes were. A 

 cock Pintail dashed into a bit of water calling loudly for its 

 mate. The full melancholy wailing of the Black throated Diver 

 came from the river; watch-dogs were barking in the distance; 

 I heard the subdued hacking of wood and the crackling of Lud- 

 wig's fire. It was already about midnight ; Fieldfares were 

 chasing each other through the wood ; one came pecking about 

 my feet, and another, settling on the branches that covered my 

 back, almost made my ears ache with the loudness of its cries. 

 I often heard the waft of known wings, but three times there 

 sounded overhead the sweeping wave of great wings to which 

 my ears were unaccustomed. I could scarcely doubt it was the 

 Cranes', but I dare not turn up my eye : I even once or twice 



