BREEDING HABITS OF WINTER MIGRANTS. 157 



over the edge of the clif!. The male was all the time 

 circling round and mewing incessantly. I then saw the 

 tail and hind portions of the female on the nest, about 

 six feet below me. She moved about restlessly, being 

 evidently disturbed by the actions of the male. After a 

 short time, however, she settled down on the eggs, and 

 was quite still for some minutes, after which she turned 

 round on the nest and caught sight of me looking down 

 at her. Of course, she at once flew off and joined the 

 male. Both continued to circle round and mew whilst 

 I was in the neighbourhood of the nest. 



In addition to being noticeably larger and lighter 

 coloured, the female was distinguishable by the mew 

 being in a distinctly higher key than that of the male. 

 Both birds continued to circle round at a height of 

 perhaps one hundred feet, so long as I was in the vicinity 

 of the nest. 



I could not distinguish the mew from that of the 

 Common Buzzard (Buteo vulgaris), but it is hardly possible 

 to mistake one species for the other, the white tail, with 

 one or two black bars, of the Rough-legged Buzzard, 

 being easily recognized whilst it is flying over one. 



A brood of young Hawk-Owls (Surnia ulula) were to 

 be seen any day in early July sitting on the dead branches 

 of the birch trees, quite close to the Abisko Hotel. They 

 were very tame, merely moving to another tree thirty 

 or forty yards away when one got underneath the tree 

 on which they were perched. I did not see any attempt 

 on the part of the old birds to swoop at the intruder, 

 as mentioned by Wheelwright, but perhaps this was 

 because the young were well fledged. 



