164- Mr. A. C. Chapman's Birds' -Net^thn/ 



four small young to-day. Long-tailed Ducks kept con- 

 tinually flying up and down the river^ and I saw two large 

 Geese go up the river at night. 



June 6th. Dull and cold, like winter. Opposite Gul- 

 holmen, on tlie other side of the river, is a level expanse of 

 snow, from two to four feet deep, the stunted birch trees 

 rearing their bare heads above it all, so that when walking 

 through the snow it is necessary to push one's way through 

 the tops of the birch-forest. In a few places, however, the 

 snow had melted, leaving water-holes, at the bottom of which 

 grass could be seen growing ; and in these open places many 

 birds were seeking food, amongst which I recognized Tem- 

 minck's Stints {Tringa temminck'i) flyiug about, with wings 

 erect above their backs, uttering a continuous " trilling " 

 note, and then suddenly diving down into the scrub. They 

 were very tame, chasing each other about and manifesting 

 signs of the approaching breeding-season. Next a pair of 

 Lapland Buntings [Plectrophanes Japponicci) rose from a 

 water-hole, the male uttering a clear flute-like song as he 

 perched on the summit of a birch tree. Tlien a pair of Wood- 

 Sandpipers {Totanus glareola), with a splendid loud call-note, 

 flew up, one of them deliberately lighting on the summit of a 

 slender bough and steadying itself witli outstretched wings, 

 the other seeking shelter in the scrub. Both this bird and 

 Temminck's Stint have yellow-ochre-coloured legs and feet. 

 Bluethroats, Titlarks, Willow-Wrens, and Wheatears were 

 also numerous. A thousand feet above us, in a line of lofty 

 crags, two pairs of Peregrine Falcons {Falco peregrinus) and 

 one pair of Ospreys {Pandion haliaetus) were circling round, 

 their fine wild cries echoing through the crags ; but when, 

 after a laborious climb, we reached the summit of this preci- 

 pice, they only soared higher, and we could see no signs of a 

 nest. While sitting here a Raven, also evidently nesting in 

 the crag, flew past us, his throat distended with the food he 

 was carrying for his young. I disturbed a couple of moun- 

 tain-hares here; they were just beginning to get the grey 

 fur of summer. Large herds of reindeer were also seeking 

 their scanty living of lichens on the highest fell-tops ; these 



