i 



CORVUS CORAX. 517 



§ 2777. i^o?^/-.— Hammerfest, 70° 49' N. lut., 2 May, 1855. 

 " J. W. ipse." 



I had been up, on a very stormy day, to near the highest point 

 of the island [Qvalo], where 1 had seen Mountain-Ptarmigan on 

 comparatively low ground. Going by the lake I heard the uncanny 

 cry of two Ravens, and, knowing there was a nest, as I went over they 

 came to meet me. I soon saw the nest. It looked very accessible 

 from below ; but on going above it was not so easy. From no spot 

 was it possible for me to get the eggs without a rope or some other 

 assistance. Luckily there were some willow-bushes near. I cut a 

 long stick, curled the end into a loop, and made a net of some string 

 I had in my pocket, with the meshes, as I thought, sufficiently small. 

 Standing on a spot from which I could easily see the eggs, I soon 

 had two in my net ; but Avhen I got it on high ground there was 

 only one, for the other had slipped through the meshes. Of the four 

 that are left, one is not bigger than a Crow's, and had no yelk. The 

 broken egg was of similar size, but of a dark green colour, with the 

 markings at the smaller end. The nest was a good mass of sticks, 

 lined with sheep-grass. The birds were very bold or tame, one of 

 them dashing close to my liead. They sat by, clucking, " drawing 

 corks,'' setting up the feathers of their head and throat, and shewing 

 the white of their eye-lids, just as old Grip [see §2766, note] used 

 to do. There was deep snow everywhere except on the steep rocks ; 

 but a purple saxifrage had its petals already unfolded, though not 

 quite opened. There was a good deal of it growing on the rocks 

 below the nest and thereabouts. 



^ 2778. /S'/a'.— Greenland. From Captain Holboll, through 

 Sysselmand Miiller, 1856. 



Two of these are very curious eggs. 



[Holboll, in 1843 (Naturhist. Tidsskrift, iv. p. 390), designated the Greenland 

 Eaven C. corax var. littoralis ; but Prof. J. T. Eeinhardt (Ibis, 1861, p. 7) and 

 Herre Winge, in 1898 (Consp. Faun. Groenl. p. 209), have wisely (as it aesjis 

 to me) ignored any such distinction.] 



^ 2779. /S'z^.— Lauska-pahta, West Finmark, 27 April, 1857. 

 " L. IM. K." 

 Taken by Ludwig, in company with another man, from an old 

 PART II. 2 M 



