180 Mr. A. C. Chapman's Birds' -Nesting 



breeding. Some of the Dotterels \^ liieh we examined were far 

 blacker on the crown of tlie head than others ; some had a 

 grey crown, but, with this exception, I could note no differ- 

 ence in the plumage of the sexes ; the legs and feet are 

 yellow ; the irides hazel. As we tramped home we remarked 

 that the birch-leaves were now nearly full out ; only three 

 days ago not a sign of a leaf was visible ! 



June 25th. Temminck''s Stints were just beginning to lay 

 now, and to-day we got two nests with four fresh eggs each. 

 1 succeeded also in getting a nest and four very fine eggs of 

 the Rough-legged Buzzard, considerably larger than any I 

 had got hefore, and quite fresh. A Lap boy brought me a 

 clutch of four fresh Whimbrel's eggs ; they had a fine olive- 

 green ground, with few other markings, entirely confined to 

 the larger end. Rather contrary to our anticipations, a heavy 

 thunderstorm, with vivid flashes of lightning and deluges of 

 rain, overtook us to-day. The rain had a most invigorating 

 effect on the birch-forests, and in the afternoon, when an 

 almost tropical sun began to shine, the previously imperfect 

 exfoliation of the buds was completely developed. 



June 26th. We made an early start this morning and 

 reached some high fells, some ten miles from Pulmak, before 

 the sun's heat had time to strike us. Another thunderstorm 

 greeted us here, and when sheltering under a boulder a male 

 Ring-Oazel appeared before us, the only one we saw in Fin- 

 mark. 1 secured a pair of Dotterel here, and then we de- 

 scended into a vast expanse of bog and morass. It appeared 

 a charming place for birds ; but although we tramped about 

 for many hours in the most likely-looking spots, we never 

 even saw or heard any thing save an occasional Golden 

 Plover. Coming home, I secured a pair of Lapland Bunt- 

 ings and found several nests of Fieldfares and Mealy Red- 

 poles with young. From a small lake in the midst of a thick 

 forest, six Wood-Sandpipers together dashed off with the 

 wildest screams. I had been attracted thither by cries 

 which proved to arise from a family of young Siberian Jays 

 {Perisoreus infaustus) . They were hopping about from 

 branch to branch in a sprightly manner, reminding me of 



