160 Mr. A. C. Chapman's Birds' -Nestivfj 



fleed-Buntings and Willow-Wrens were very common^ and a 

 ChiflFchaff was seen and heard singing lustily, as well as a single 

 Hedge-Sparrow. Blackcocks were " erooing ^^ loudly in the 

 still evening, and occasionally we flushed a Willow-Grouse, 

 which seemed to be already in summer dress ; its bold bec-hec 

 on rising exactly resembles the cry of our British bird. 

 Bramblings were numerous in the birch-forests, their mono- 

 tonous drone, like the word cree-ee, being continually audible ; 

 it struck me as resembling the note of the Greenfinch, but 

 distinctly louder and shriller. I often saw them floating about 

 in the woods with quivering wings, somewhat reminding me 

 of the Wood-W^arbler ; but they were rather wild, and it was 

 some time before I procured one. Ring-Ouzels w^ere com- 

 mon in the steep heather-clad gorges, and I saw one pair of 

 Mealy Eedpoles sitting together on a dead twig projecting 

 from some snow, their grey breast-feathers fluffed out, and 

 looking vei'y disconsolate. Where the ground was wet. Red- 

 shanks and Snipes kept getting up, and I took an egg from 

 the oviduct of a Yellow Hammer which I got here. On the 

 28th we took a boat, as I had heard that a pair of W^hite- 

 tailed Eagles bred annually on a rocky island off Bodo. 

 We did not find them at home, however, so having landed we 

 amused ourselves by watching a pair of Ravens [Corvus corax) 

 which had a nest in the face of the crag, containing several 

 young birds nearly ready to fly. The youngsters frequently 

 hopped on to the side of the nest, and flapping their wings, 

 received their first lessons in the art of flying. Directly 

 they saw us they would drop back into the nest, whilst the 

 old birds kept flying round, occasionally uttering a deep 

 guttural " croak.'^ 



W^hile watching the Ravens, a Kestrel {Falco tinnunculus) 

 flew into the crag and began to make signs of disapproval at 

 our intrusion here. He seemed to have come to the crag for 

 the purpose of feeding, and on being fired at dropped a half- 

 eaten Redwing. Here I observed a pair of Redstarts, and a 

 pair of Common Scoters were busy diving in an enclosed bay 

 of the sea. Next day we found the nest of a Hooded Crow 

 [Corvus comix), containing three newly hatched young and 



