BREEDING HABITS OF WINTER MIGRANTS. 151 



" Baedeker." At Aare, some twenty miles further west, 

 which has an altitude of 1,240 feet, the broods were 

 much more backward — probably the proximity of snow- 

 clad mountains accounted for this. There was here 

 quite a large colony ; probably from one to two hundred 

 pairs frequented the woods on the lower slopes of the 

 mountain Aaresklitan, but I could only find two nests 

 with eggs up to the day of my departure, June 14th. 

 One of these had five eggs, and the other two, an incom- 

 plete clutch ; the clutch of five was not incubated. 

 Some half-dozen other nests, partly finished, were all I 

 could discover ; and evidently the bulk of the birds, 

 from their behaviour, had not commenced to nest. 



On my arrival at Abisko, some seven hundred and fifty 

 miles further north, I found the breeding season much 

 more advanced ; there had been a spell of fine, warm 

 weather, which had brought things on, though even 

 then the birches were only bursting into leaf, and many 

 of them were still bare. Practically aU the birds seemed 

 to have nests with eggs, in some cases incubated. Out 

 of the dozens of nests examined, only one was empty. 

 This nest contained four eggs by June 28th, and as this 

 number was not increased, I suspect from the fact that 

 certain nests near had been robbed, that it was a 

 second clutch. 



The species was very abundant on the shores of the 

 Torne Traske ; there must have been several hundred 

 pairs breeding between Abisko and the small village of 

 Bjorkleiden, some seven kilometres further west. 



The Fieldfare is, during the breeding season, in many 

 respects, a distinctly interesting bird. He cultivates 

 the acquaintance of man, placing the nest in a very 

 conspicuous position, usually in the fork of a birch tree, 

 or on a horizontal branch, often immediately over a 

 frequented pathway, where one cannot miss seeing it ; 

 and further to advertize that a nest is near, the first 

 intimation of its proximity received is, that the male 

 commences to scold furiously long before it is in sight, 



