Rumble in Lapland. 1 77 



June 22nd. Two important observations were made to- 

 day : first, there is a slight tinge of green in the birch-forests, 

 which, up to now, have been as bare and barren as winter; 

 and, secondly, the appearance of mosquitoes in force. From 

 this date life became hardly tolerable on account of this 

 plague. I found this morning by the lake-side a nest and 

 six eggs of the Reed-Bunting, and shortly afterwards I flushed 

 a Phalarope {Phalaropus hyperboreus) from her tiny nest in 

 the grass, close to the water's edge. The legs and feet of 

 this bird are greenish. A pair of Wood- Sandpipers evidently 

 had a nest here, but they completely deluded us. This bird 

 has a habit of going high up in the air and gyrating for hours 

 in wide circles, at times shooting up another fifty or sixty feet 

 with a delightful wild cry. 



Coming down the Pulmakclf, on our return to Pulmak, we 

 found two nests of Temminck's Stints, one containing two 

 eggs, the other three. The latter was placed close to a Lap's 

 log-hut, and immediately behind a dunghill adjoining the 

 house, a few paces from the edge of the Tana. The old birds 

 were very solicitous, sailing around with their wings set over 

 their backs, like a butterfly, often alighting on a tree, rail, 

 or stone, or sometimes on the ridge of the Lap hut adjoining, 

 uttering the while a continual pretty trilling note. I fre- 

 quently observed this tiny Wader in the act of nest-making, 

 scratching a hole with its little feet, then quickly sitting 

 down and turning its little body round to form the required 

 depression. Then the bird jumps up, and looking at the 

 embryo nest, pushes a dead birch-leaf with her slender beak 

 into the tiny hole. I measured the diameter of one nest 

 containing four eggs, and it did not amount to 2j inches 

 over all. The eggs are placed small ends together, and, 

 owing to the depth of the nest, are caused to stand nearly 

 on end, thus taking up very little space ; indeed, if they lay 

 on their sides^ the small body of this Wader could not cover 

 them. Frequently, when at the nest, the Stints would run 

 round and round, almost coming within arm's reach ; but 

 their quickness of flight when surprised or frightened is 

 astonishing. They seemed to have a special liking for the 



