BIEDS OF ICELAND 99 



on fells and high plateaux, where its nest, owing to the 

 vast area of country suitable to its requirements, is not 

 commonly met with. I have found, or been at the 

 findiuiT of, six in Iceland, and have met with it more 

 frequently on the ArnarvatnsheiSi than anywhere, 

 where it is the characteristic small Wader. 



It nests on elevated bare ground in June, as soon 

 as the ground is dry enough after the melting of the 

 snow. The nest is placed amongst a patch of Dryas 

 octo]petala, Loiseleuria procumhens, or an absolutely 

 prostrate willow, and is quite unconcealed, the bird 

 trusting to its obscure colouring and the withered- 

 leaf colour of the eggs to escape observation. The 

 nest is a mere hollow — as deep as the eggs — with a 

 few dead willow, Dryas, or Vaccinium leaves in it, an 

 odd Ptarmigan's feather or two, and a few off the bird's 

 own breast as lining. I have, however, found one nest 

 (which was on a wet fell) rather substantially lined 

 with grass. The eggs, four in number, are much like 

 the Dunlin's (and many of the eggs sold for the former 

 are those of the latter only), but are a shade larger 

 (IJ inches long, or nearly), and when fresh decidedly 

 greener in ground colour ; but this beautiful tint soon 

 fades into a light olivaceous brown. The bird sits very 

 close indeed. I have never met with the nest of this 

 species in Iceland at a less elevation than 1200 to 

 1500 feet above the sea. 



In summer the bird is generally dusky, thickly 

 spotted on the breast with black and grey, and on the 

 crown and scapulars with buff and white. In winter 



