158 Mr. A. C. Cliapman's Birds' -Nesting 



XV. — A Birds' -Nesting Ramble in Lapland. 

 By Alfred Crawiiall Chapman. 



The ornithology of the extreme north-west of Europe has 

 not been treated of for some years in ' The Ibis/ so perhaps 

 the following account of a trip to East Finmark during the 

 spring of 1884 may be of interest. The district visited was 

 the valley of the Tana, one of the great rivers which drain 

 the area lying between the North Cape and the gulf of 

 Bothnia. The Tana and the Muonio-Tornea rivers have 

 their source in the same district^ the former flowing north- 

 wards into the Tana "Fiord, a little to the east of the North 

 Cape; while the Muonio-Tornea, flowing in a southerly 

 direction past Muonioniska, the scene of the late Mr. Wol- 

 ley^s memorable achievements, empties itself into the Gulf 

 of Bothnia. 



In crossing the North Sea, on May 21st, when two Imn- 

 dred miles from land, a Whinchatcame on board the steamer 

 and sought shelter near a warm steam-pipe ; the unfortunate 

 little bird must have been much fatigued, for shortly after- 

 wards it fell dead from its perch. On the 22nd, during a 

 short walk in the suburbs of Bergen, I was pleased to see 

 Pied Flycatchers, the males in fine black-and-white plumage. 

 Between the 23rd and 26tli May, Avhen going up the fiords, 

 the usual common seafowl were to be seen ; but twice I 

 observed brown Eiders with very pale-coloured heads, which 

 I took to be female King Eiders. On the 27th we arrived 

 at Bodo, in Nordland (lat. Q7° N.) ; and after obtaining per- 

 mission from the magistrate there to shoot specimens, we 

 made our way across what v/as formerly a marsh behind the 

 village, but which is now drained. I supj^ose it would be 

 here that the Messrs. Godman found the Great Snipe breeding 

 (Ibis, 1801, p. 87) ; now nothing but an occasional Golden 

 Plover and numerous Wheatears flitted over the dry tussocks 

 of moss. The first birds that attracted attention were a pair of 

 Northern Marsh-Tits [Pariis borealis) actively searching the 

 lower stems of the birches for food. They appeared to be 

 much lighter in colour on the underparts than our Marsh- 



