observed on Kolyuev. 217 



the shell. The fifth contained young in down, but not quite 

 so advanced. The one egg in the sixth was nearly hatched, 

 and the three young birds from the other eggs were caught 

 about the nest. In the seventh two eggs were addled, one 

 nearly hatched, and one young in down caught near. A few 

 more young were also secured. The positions of the nests 

 were interesting : only two were on the lower ground near the 

 Gobista ; one was a mile both from the sea and the river ; 

 all the others — also several old nests — were on the tundra not 

 far from the edge of the bluffs which form the margin of 

 the river-basin. Grey Plovers seem to prefer this position, 

 Avhich gives them good posts of observation and allows them 

 to take their young easily into the marshes below to feed. 

 We found a ready way of locating the nest of this bird was 

 to watch a pair of Richardson^s Skua hunting over the 

 tundra, for as soon as they approached the nest of tlie 

 Plovers, both the latter rose into the air and drove the Skuas 

 away. We never observed these birds breeding near each 

 other, each pair appearing to take possession of about a mile 

 of country. All the nests were slight depressions in the 

 peat, lined with a little lichen. 



415. tEgialitis hiaticula. Ringed Plover. 



Fairly numerous near the sea. Several nests were found 

 with eggs ; one, in a gully, had been caught by a freshet 

 and nearly buried in the tenacious glacial mud, 



Y 16. Strepsilas interpres. Turnstone. 



During their visit to the Porsangerfjord in 1893, H. and 

 C. P. never found the nest of this bird more than five yards 

 from the sea ; but on Kolguev the Turnstone selects a position 

 similar to that of the Grey Plover. We took several lots of 

 young in down and one egg, which, curiously, was fresh — not 

 addled — while the other three in that nest were hatched out. 

 In two cases the young were on the mud-flats, w'ith one of 

 the old birds in charge ; the other was on the bluff above 

 watching. Turnstones are very noisy when their young are 

 approached, and resort to devices similar to those vised by 

 Plover to lure intruders away. 



