68 Lieut. S. A. Davies on the 



sacrificed our opportunities of observing the Owls, Wood- 

 peckers, and so forth, which are found in the true forests. 



We were greatly handicapped by an exceptionally late 

 season, at least three weeks later than the ordinary. On the 

 1st of June we were still sledging on the frozen river, which 

 is generally clear by the 10th of May. This cause consider- 

 ably retarded the arrival of the birds ; thus the breeding- 

 season was shorter than usual, the early breeders being 

 late and the late breeders punctual, so that we found it 

 impossible to manage everything in so short a time. For 

 the purposes of observation we established ourselves at two 

 stations : one at Leveavuopio in the north of our district 

 (69° 50' N. lat.), and the other at Ainettivaara on the edge 

 of the pine-forests (69° 30' N. lat.) 



A considerable trade in egg-collecting is still done on the 

 Muonio, and has been going on ever since John Wolley, 

 whose name is to this day revered by the Finns, made 

 Muonioniska his headquarters. The eggs are sent to dealers 

 in Helsingfors, who pay a good price for those of the rarer 

 species ; but it is difficult to understand how they find a 

 mar-ket, as the specimens are not kept in clutches or identified 

 in any way. I do not think, however, that this collecting has 

 an appreciable effect on the birds as a whole, for the area is 

 so vast and habitations are so scattered that the damage done 

 is infinitesimal, except in the case of certain species, such as 

 the Gyr-Falcon, which is becoming very scarce owing to its 

 frequenting the same breeding-places every year and being 

 annually robbed. 



The Finns, as a whole, have a good general knowledge of 

 their birds — the value of the eggs has probably much to do 

 with it, — and, though they do not possess the marauding 

 instinct of the English village-boy, they are keen, so far as 

 it is possible for them to be keen, and throughout the country 

 birds are one of the staple subjects of conversation, which 

 suits the Northern Finn much better than hard work. The 

 natives are excellent at imitating the notes of the various 

 species, the Finnish names of which are often very expressive. 



I append some notes on the species observed. 



