Ramble in Lapland. 159 



Tits^ and the long fluffy plumage of a slate-blue tinge is 

 wonderfully adapted to resist the rigours of a northern winter. 

 Magpies Avere very common^ and I noticed them breeding in 

 low buslies in the streets of Bodo. Presently we got among 

 a colony of Fieldfares [Turdus pilaris), their nests, which we 

 found in great numbers, being mostly placed in small birch 

 trees from three to ten feet from the ground, I remember 

 looking down on a Fieldfare's back^ as she sat on her eggs, and 

 remarking how ill-'fitted the circular nest was to the outline of 

 the bird^s body, for I could see right into the bottom of the 

 nest on each side of her closed wings, although the eggs 

 were not visible. The trees being small and stunted, the 

 nests were necessarily placed close to the main stem ; they 

 were constructed of dry white grass externally, then about 

 an inch and a half of wet earth, and an inside lining, about 

 an inch thick, of dry white grass. The internal diameter 

 was invariably 4 inches, and I found afterwards that those 

 of the Redwing {Turdus iliacus) were as invariably Scinches. 

 The old birds occasionally hovered in the air with jerky 

 flight, after the manner of a Pipit, uttering a peculiar cry, 

 which could scarcely be called a song ; but I think this is 

 confined to the breeding-season ; they also kept up a con- 

 tinual cackling, similar to the familiar note we hear in 

 winter. While selecting some of the finest clutches of eggs, 

 we presently saw a nest of sticks in the top of a birch tree, 

 and on approaching, a male Merlin (Falco cesalon) dashed off 

 it. Soon the female Merlin appeared, mobbed by a screech- 

 ing crowd of Fieldfares, and I easily secured both these little 

 Falcons. The nest appeared to be newly built, of thick birch- 

 branches loosely put together, and lined with a little moss, 

 dead leaves, and a few feathers, but deeper in the centre 

 than the nests of the Sparrow- Hawk or Kestrel ; it contained 

 three very dark-coloured eggs. It struck me as peculiar 

 that these active and powerful little Falcons should be quietly 

 nesting in the very midst of a colony of Fieldfares ; for there 

 must have been at least a score of the nests of the latter 

 within a short stone's throw of the Merlin's tree. A single 

 Rough-legged Buzzard was seen to-day ; on the low grounds 



