4 SCOLOPACID^. 



feet, was shot, and, hurrah ! — proved to be a Broad-bill ! It was at once decided to 

 leave the hills for the marsh, and thither we accordingly went. Before very long 

 four eggs were found, and so one of the prizes we hoped to get was secured. 

 This nest was not on a tump, but a damp, grassy place, in a dry spot almost level 

 with the mud, and consisted of a round, deep hollow filled with dry leaves of the 

 mountain willow, whose brown colour coincided almost exactly with that of the 

 eggs. On the 11th, at another marsh half-way to Jerkin, on which there were no 

 willows, we took four eggs from a nest composed of dry grass simply, and which 

 was a slight depression on a small tump surrounded by water. The colour of 

 these was very much lighter than the first, more like a Dunlin's. Willow-leaves 

 were not invariably used, even where they were plentiful, as was proved by a nest 

 taken on the 14th from Fokstuen, composed solely of straws. Two others had 

 both leaves and straws mixed, and the rest were like the first in this respect. It 

 was curious that those nests lined with leaves contained the darkest eggs, and 

 those with straws the lighter-coloured ones. The number was invariably four, 

 and these were all fresh, or nearly so, in the seven nests we took, between the 

 9th and 15th. The open spaces of the marsh appeared to be preferred, where it 

 was free from bushes, and the ground very soppy and wet. The birds in all cases 

 were very tame, would not get off the nest till nearly trodden on, alighting only a 

 few yards away, and running about among the tumps with an occasional subdued 

 half-chirp half-whistle. The male is never far away, always ready to join his 

 mate if she leaves the nest."' 



In some further notes on this species communicated to Mr. J. A. Harvie- 

 Brown, and published by Mr. Dresser in his ' Birds of Europe ' *, Mr. Mitchell 

 states that " the nests are more elaborate than most of the Sandpipers', scratched 

 deeper down, and more carefully lined." 



The Rev. H. H. Slater, in his " Field Notes in Norway in 1882," writes as 

 follows respecting this species f: — " Pretty plentiful at Fokstuen, and just below 

 the station at Hjerkinn. I did not find the nest, nor did the ovary of a female I 

 procured at Fokstuen lead me to suppose I should, though at Hjerkinn — which, 

 both in Ornithology and Botany, is decidedly earlier than Fokstuen, although the 

 places are, as near as possible, at the same altitude (the ornithologist will do well 

 to take Hjerkinn first) — one contained an egg which would have been laid in a 

 few days. They are not easy to shoot, as they have a perplexing way of rising 

 at your feet in a great hurry, and flying off as if they meant to go for miles, and 



* Vol. viii. p. 7, 



* Vol. viii. p. 7. 



t ' Zoologist,' 1S83, p. 59. 



