GREY PLOVER. 53 



nearly two hours over this nest, and were quite at sea at the end of the 

 time. We changed our position several times, but to no purpose. The 

 female went here and there and everywhere, as much as to say, " I^n 

 not going on the nest as long as you are so near." At last the mosquitoes 

 lairly tired us out, and we gave up the watching game and commenced a 

 search. At last we found out the secret of the bird's behaviour. We 

 picked up some broken egg-shells, and concluded at once that the bird had 

 young. We tried to find them, but in vain. These two hours, however, 

 were not wasted. The birds came nearer to me than they had ever done 

 before. I often watched them at a distance of not more than ten yards, 

 and was able to hear their notes more distinctly. The note most 

 frequently used is a single plaintive whistle, kop, long drawn out, the o 

 pronounced as in German, and the consonants scarcely sounded. This I 

 am almost sure is the alarm-note ; it is principally uttered by the female 

 when she stops and looks round and sees something of which she dis- 

 approves. If the male shows any anxiety about the nest, which he seems to 

 do more and more as incubation progresses, he also utters the same note. 

 The double note, kl-ee or kleej), the kl dwelt upon so as to make it 

 a separate syllable, is also uttered by both birds. It is evidently their 

 call-note. I have seen the female, when she has been running away from 

 the male, turn sharp round and look towards him when he has uttered this 

 note, exactly as any one might do who heard his name called. Whilst we 

 were watching this pair of birds a couple of other Grey Plovers came up 

 and called as they flew past. The male answered the call and flew 

 towards them. On the wing this whistle is lengthened out to three notes. 

 I had some difficulty in catching this note exactly. It is not so often 

 uttered as the two others I have mentioned, and is generally heard when 

 you least expect it; but I am almost sure it is a combination of the 

 alarm-note with the call-note — kl-ee-kop. If I wanted to make a free 

 translation from Ploverski into English, I should say that kl-ee means 

 " Halloo ! old fellow,^^ and hop means " Mind what you are about." 



We procured our tenth nest of the Grey Plover the same afternoon. It 

 was found by our Samoyede, who brought us three eggs and the male and 

 female shot at the nest. He accidentally broke the fourth egg. As it 

 contained a live young bird, we placed these three eggs in our hatching- 

 basket, where we had made a snug nest of Bean-Goose-down. 



By this time we were pretty well tired with tramping the tundra. The 

 ceaseless persecution of the mosquitoes, and the stifling feeling caused 

 by having to wear a veil with the thermometer above summer heat, had 

 taxed our powers of endurance almost to the utmost ; and we turned our 

 faces resolutely towards our boat; but a most anxious pair of Grey 

 Plovers were too great an attraction for us to resist. We watched 

 them for some time, during which a pair of Ringed Plovers persisted in 



