178 Mr. A. C. Chapman's Birds' -Ntst'mg 



dry sandy banks of the Pulraakelf close to its junction with 

 the Tana. Here the sloping sand was sparsely overgrown 

 with dwarf willows, and amongst the roots of the willows a 

 coarse grass was growing, strewn with dead birch-leaves, and 

 this the Stints seemed to prefer to any other place, although 

 I afterwards found them breeding several hundred yards 

 from water. 



June 23rd. A pair of Ring-Plovers {jEgialitis hiaticula), 

 by their excessive anxiety and solicitude, betrayed their nest 

 and four eggs within a stone's throw of our dwelling. I had 

 heard them nearly all night long uttering their fine hollow 

 cry, as they flew up and down the river. I got my last 

 Pine-Grosbeak's nest to-day, with two eggs. A Great Grey 

 Shrike's nest, built close to the place where we had obtained 

 a nest and seven hard-set eggs on the 14th June, now con- 

 tained six fine fresh eggs, evidently a second laying. This 

 nest was constructed almost entirely of white "ryper "-fea- 

 thers, and was very warm and compact. It was placed in a 

 bii'ch tree standing alone in an open glade in the forest. The 

 white feathers of the Willow-Grouse exactly resembled in 

 colour the silvery bark of the birch tree on which it was l)uilt. 

 We also obtained to-day a Brambling's nest with seven eggs, 

 a Bluethroat's with seven eggs, and a Golden Plover's with 

 four eggs, and I shot a Grey-headed W^agtail in gorgeous 

 plumage. The heat was great to-day : the birch-forests are 

 turning green, and the mosquitoes are a living plague. 



June 24th. On our way to some distant fells to look for 

 Dotterel, we found a Ring-Plover's nest with two eggs and 

 two Mealy Redpole's nests, the first with five eggs, the second 

 with newly hatched young. The latter have a very ex- 

 tended period of incubation, and probably have two broods 

 in the season. Their nests are very pretty, consisting in this 

 case of small twigs outside, then the soft downy wool of the 

 willow-catkin, and then the snow-wiiite lining of " ryper "- 

 feathers. When the pale-blue eggs, with their purple spots, 

 are laid in this, it is impossible to conceive a prettier sight. 

 After a long climb we eventually reached the summit of a 

 truly characteristic Lapland fjeld ; nothing but a great rolling 



