of the Breeding of the Waxwing. 95 



but you remember that I am not to return home without a 

 Waxwing's nest in my hand." He had, in fact, a few days be- 

 fore, when at Stockhohn, received from his faithful Ludwig a 

 letter telling him of the discovery, in which Ludwig had him- 

 self assisted, and respecting the truth of which he said, his 

 " Master must be quite sure — without doubt/' Mr. Wolley, 

 howevei", forbore to allow his own or my expectations to be 

 raised too highly, and in spite of his receiving confirmatory evi- 

 dence on his arrival at Haparanda and on his way up the river, 

 it was not until he had reached Muoniovara, and had satisfied 

 himself by repeated investigation of the whole story, that he 

 trusted himself to write to me positively. His letter, dated 

 " Muoniovara, 14 Sept. 1856,^' after describing his own doings 

 and those of the friends I had made the preceding year, telling 

 me of the expected scarcity of food, and giving the general re- 

 sults of the nesting season, goes on to say : — 



" I have still to tell you of Ludwig's expedition with Piko 

 Heiki to Sardio, on the Kittila River. It was early in June, 

 and he had to wade over Pallas-tunturi up to his middle in 

 snow. Arrived at Sardio, he found the lads there all at home, 

 deep in dirt and laziness. He soon extracted from them the in- 

 formation that a pair of birds had been seen about, which they 

 took to be Tuka rastas ; and Ludwig himself had seen such a 

 bird, and this bird^s egg was entered in my list. * * * Ludwig 

 immediately started off" into the forest, and sure enough he saw 

 a bird which he thought was Sidensvans ; but he was not quite 

 sure, for the end of its tail looked white in the sun instead of 

 yellow as in your picture *: but the next day, or in the evening, 

 it was cloudy, and Ludwig saw the yellow ; and now he had no 

 longer any doubt. He said he would give all the lads day- 

 money, and they must all search, even if it were for a week, till 

 they found the nest. They sought all that night and the next 

 day till about midday, [when] a lad called out that he had 

 found the nest ; and there it was, with two eggs, about nine 

 feet high, on the branch of a Spruce. * * * After five days 



* This picture was one of several coloured sketches of diiFerent birds 

 sent to Mr. Wolley b)- Mr. Hewitson and myself, to assist him in making 

 known his wants to the natives. 



