2 SCOLOPACID^. 



willows, near river-mouths ; on islands and deltas in the Fjord; near the sea-shore, 

 and often quite close to inhabited places. But in order that this locality may 

 afford a favourable breeding-place for this Stint (and Tringa minuta) it is a 

 necessary condition that one or more flat and moist places or pools should be near 

 at hand, where it can procure food, as, during the breeding time, it only seeks 

 this exceptionally on the flat river-banks, or on the sea-shore. Such a locality 

 once found, it was extremely easy for us to discover the nests. If a bird was seen 

 in the vicinity on the feeding-grounds or not too far from them, we had only to 

 remain very quiet and at a suitable distance from the bu'd, and in a few minutes 

 it flew straight in the direction of the nest, then Avalked for the last two yards, 

 and finally settled on it, while we could examine the bird through the field-glass, 

 or often quite close to it. When it stayed too long at the feeding-place, we went 

 straight to the spot and drove the bird up, when, in most cases, it flew directly to 

 the nest. Even whilst the birds were on the feeding-ground, it was easy to decide 

 which individuals were breeding or which were not ; the former were extremely 

 eager and restless in pursuit of food, and always in motion, whereas the latter fed 

 more calmly, and at intervals remained quietly perched on a stone near the water 

 for some time. "Whilst the bird was sitting, it was possible to approach it gently 

 within a few paces before it flew ofi", and for this reason a nest like this was, 

 as a rule, only found by accident. If the bird was seen to fly up, it was easy 

 enough to discover the nest, as it usually lay quite exposed. 



" This summer we found altogether 30 to 40 nests, most of them in three 

 localities, on each occasion during excursions of only a few hours. 



" We found about twenty nests in a few hours, amongst a colony of about 30 

 pairs which were breeding on some moors on the lower-lying ground in front of 

 the buildings of Stabursnaes (one of the stations). The reason that we searched 

 so industriously for these nests was because there were some breeding pau's of 

 Tr. minuta amongst these colonies, and after a little practice it was a much easier 

 matter than is generally supposed to decide on the first examination with the 

 glass whether an individual had a greyish-brown {Tr. temminckii) or reddish-brown 

 {Tr. minuta) back. Most of the clutches found between June 27th and July 3rd 

 were fresh or only slightly incubated ; of these we only selected the fresh eggs for 

 our collections and left the rest undisturbed. As on this occasion not a single 

 sitting bird was shot at the nest, no observations were made as to which sex 

 undertook incubation. But on four former occasions (Porsanger, 1872 and 1876) 

 on which I shot the sitting bird as it left the nest and examined it, these were 

 always males and had large incubation-spots. It is therefore very likely that the 

 males principally undertake the duties of incubation. 



