34 220 



gyrating for a time at a definite height; mounting and descend- 

 ing with a peculiar wavy motion, they sound the while their 

 intermitting modest note. Sometimes, after descending, and when 

 perched upon a stone or even on the ground, they would warble 

 a more coherent strain, not unlike the song of the sky-lark, and 

 laever heard when the bird is on the wing. They appeared to 

 be anything but shy. 



At Gjsesvser, the young birds were almost full grown* June 

 28th, the largest observed measuring 160 mm. Two males shot 

 there measured as follows: — Total length 178—188 mm; wing 

 102-106, tail 67—71, tarsus 23— 237^, middle-toe 12 + 7 mm. In 

 the stomachs of the adults and of the young birds were found 

 Coleoptera^ (chiefly Otiorhynchus hlandus^), fine gravel, and traces 

 of vegetable substances. 



The line of passage would appear to be east of Norway, for 

 the bird is never met with in the southern districts at the period 

 of migration. Two examples, shot some years since in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Christiania, had possibly strayed, — which has been the 

 case with Centr. la2jponica, — from the Dovrefjeld, where, however, 

 the species has not yet been shown to occur. 



That individuals can endure a Finmark winter is hardly credible, 

 though Nordvi observed it in Varanger as late as the 6th Novem- 

 ber (1872). 



C7j> up a ep op 5, Lin. 



An individual of this species was caught at Mel0, in Nord- 

 land, and transmitted to Mr. Heltzen (vide MS. 1842). The 

 species has been observed several times in Finmark, both in Alten 

 and in East Finmark; indeed, this bird would seem to have a 

 propensity of straggling far and wide. ^ 



Both in 1871 and 1872, this species, which on the whole is 



' Dress described in „Nyt Mag. f. Naturv." Vol 18, p. 180. 



' A species whose hard elytra severely tasks the digestive organs; it is therefore 



found in the stomachs of most of the birds of Finmark that feed on insects. 

 ' Vide Dresser and Sharpe, „Birds of Europe", Part VII, on its occurrence on 



Spitsbergen. 



