360 Mr. Reginald Phillipps,


filled he was justified in speaking of the discovery as ‘ unex¬

pected.’


“ The first intimation I received from Mr. Wolley that the

discovery was accomplished was contained in a letter written by

him on his way up the Baltic, and dated 2nd September, 1856.

He says :—‘ Let me tell yon now, whilst I think of it, that I have

some reason for believing that the Waxwing makes its nest in

good-sized fir-trees in the month of June. I give you this hint

in case I should not live to give you more certain information ;

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

wing’s nest in my hand.’ He had, in fact, a few days before,

when at Stockholm, received from his faithful Ludwig a letter

telling him of his discovery, in which Ludwig had himself

assisted, and respecting the truth of which he said, his ‘ master

must be quite sure—without doubt.’ Mr. Wolley, however, for¬

bore to allow his own or my expectations to be raised too highly,

and in spite of his receiving confirmatory evidence 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, 14th

September, 1S56,’ 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 results 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 them all at home, deep in dirt and

laziness. He soon extracted from them the information that a

pair of birds had been about, which they took to be Tukarcistas ;

and Ludwig himself had seen such a bird, and this bird’s egg

was entered in my list. . . . Ludwig immediately started oft


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.



