130 ITS LEK. 



" If one is then abroad at an early hour in the morn- 

 ing, one is treated to a very singular concert, consisting of 

 the most various cries and notes, which in disharmonious 

 confusion proceed from hundreds of Dal-Ripa, dispersed 

 throusrhout the surroundini? countrv. Here is seen a 

 male perched on a stone cooing, and emitting at intervals 

 his customary sound when in a passive posture : (/ack, 

 gack, gack — ka, ka, a, a, a, a, a. There flies another 

 male uttering his sharp errrrakka, kak, kakaka ; but 

 presently alighting again he cries kcwciro, kavaro, upon 

 which follows a clear ringing kavau, twice repeated. A 

 third male, with outstretched neck and expanded tail, 

 promenades proudly to and fro on the snow, emitting 

 his gao, g((0, and Avhile in this attitude, with his dazzling 

 white body, dark brown head, and large red ci*est, looks 

 as haughty as the Great Mogul himself. In this while 

 the subdued njcm, iijau of the females are heard at 

 intervals, together with anotlier peculiar sound, Avhich 

 cannot be represented by any combination of letters. 



" It is chiefly in the morning, though occasionally in 

 the evening, that the Dal-Kipa are thus occupied ; for in 

 the middle of the day they mostly lie still or sit basking 

 in the sun on hillocks, stones, or stumps of trees. This 

 way of life they continue until about the middle of May, 

 when -the several pairs separate to search for suitable 

 nesting localities." 



My lamented friend, "The Old Bushman," would seem 

 to gainsay the fact of the Dal-Hijia holding a Lek ; but it 

 strikes me that, owing to the very unfavourable state of 

 the snow on his first reaching Lapland, and his inability 

 to go on " skidor," the season, when he took the field, 

 was too far advanced to enable him to make his obser- 

 vations to advantage. Por if the Dal-Hipa really does 

 hold a Lek, or the semblance of one, as M. Barth and 

 others tell us, it no doubt takes place veiy early in the 



