370 ANTHrS CERVINUS. 



notices were probably known to few, if to any, in England, and certainly neither of 

 my companions nor myself was aware of them ; we were therefore quite unpre- 

 pared to find this beautiful and very distinct species not uncommon in some localities 

 on the shores of the Varanger Fjord. However the zealous naturalists then living 

 on its northern shore, HH. Nordvi and Sommerfelt, did not seem, to me at least, to 

 have formed a positive opinion on the subject, for which, indeed, there was plenty of 

 excuse looking to the dissidence that prevailed among the leading European orni- 

 thologists — the matter being further complicated by doubts as to whether the 

 Anthus rufogidaris of the eldest Brehm (Vog. Deutschl. p. 340) was or was not 

 identical with the Motacilla cervina of Pallas (Zoogr. Ross.-Asiat. i. p. 511), The 

 result was that we at the time believed we were making a discovery of some 

 importance, whereas we were only confirming one that had been already announced. 

 In 1860 I communicated a rather long account of our experience to the late Dr. Bree, 

 in both editions of whose 'Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isles ' (ed. 1, 

 ii. pp. 157, 160 ; ed. 2, iii. pp. 100-102) it will be found, and thence it was trans- 

 ferred, with a few corrections, to Mr. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe ' (iii. pp. 304-306). 

 The main facts only need be stated here. Early in .June 1855 Mr. WoUey shot, 

 near Vadso in East Finmark, a Pipit that puzzled him. This, for want of time to 

 attend to it, he left with other specimens in a cold cellar while he proceeded on his 

 way to Enara, whence he returned on the 19th of that month ^ to join Mr. Hudleston 

 (at that time Simpson) and myself at Vadso, where we had arrived the day before. 

 He was vexed to find this specimen half-eaten by mice ; but I at once, from my 

 recollection of the figure given in Dr. von Middendorff s ' Sibirische Pteise ' (^Bd. ii. 

 Th. 2, tab. xiv. fig. 1), recognized in its remains a male Anthus cervimis — a species 

 with which I certainly had no expectation of meeting. A few days after, when in 

 company with Mr. Hudleston, I had the good fortune to find a nest, which by that 

 gentleman's clever capture of the hen bird, was determined as belonging to the same 

 species (§ 1943). It then was plain to us that some eggs (§ 1942) which had been 

 previously brought to Mr. WoUey at Vadso were also those of A. cervinus, though 

 their parentage had not been at the time suspected. On the morrow we moved 

 further up the fjord, and in a few days more reached Nyborg, a small settlement at 

 the head of the Varanger, or, to be more particular, of the Msesk Fjord, as this part 

 of it is called. Here willows and birches grew with far greater luxuriance, even at 

 the water's edge, than lower down the inlet. Some even attained to nearly twice 

 the height of a man, and formed thickets which, the intervening spaces being 

 exceedingly boggy, were not easily explored. In this secluded spot we found 

 A. cervinus not unplentiful. We could scarcely go out of the house without seeing 

 one ; and in the immediate neighbourhood we procured several moi'e identified 

 nests, making a total of five, and a series of nine birds. We also had abundant 

 opportunities of watching their habits, and, above all, of contrasting them with 

 those of A. 2)ratensis, which was not uncommon in the district. The two species 

 had, according to our observation, entirely different haunts, A. jjratensis occupying 

 a station less wooded (saving the expression) than that of A. cervinus, which latter, 



' [In my communication to Dr. Bree I .slated that Mr. Wolley returned from Enara 

 *' a day or two later " than the 22nd of June. Mr. Hudleston, by kindly lending me 

 his journal, enables me to correct this misstatement. — Ed.] 



