Excursion to the North of Norway. 227 



several interesting birds^ such as the Red-spotted Blue- 

 throat, Mealy Redpoll, and Blue-headed Wagtail. On June 

 7th we visited Botnfjord, and spent the greater part of the 

 day in the woods at the head of the fjord; but we were 

 evidently too early for small birds. Fieldfares'' were the 

 only nests we found with eggs. The next day we explored 

 Grundfjord, but with little better result. On June 9th we 

 landed at Aedfjord, and visited three of a chain of lakes. A 

 walk of a good many miles through woods and by a river- 

 bank only produced a nest of the Pied Flycatcher with six 

 eggs. We were told by an old native that the small birds 

 generally nest there about June 24th, and we concluded also 

 that the exceptionally heavy snow of the late winter had re- 

 tarded their nesting ; so we decided to turn our attention to 

 shore-birds. 



On June 10th we landed on an island at the entrance to 

 Grundfjord ; here we were more successful, finding eggs of 

 Meadow Pipit, Whimbrel, Willow Grouse, Red-throated 

 Diver, and Common Gull. That night we steamed for the 

 Lofoden Islands, where we stayed four days ; but only on 

 one of the islands visited did we find many eggs, and 

 this island differed from the others that we landed on, in 

 that it had a large area of low-lying ground. This tract, 

 overgrown with Empetrum nigrum, cloudberry, and moss, 

 was interspersed with small pools, and several good-sized 

 lakes. In three of the lakes there were islands. As our 

 outfit included an india-rubber boat, we were able to row to 

 them, and thus obtained a number of eggs of the Common 

 Gull, and three nests of the Black-throated Diver. One of 

 the nests of the former contained an egg of a duck, with 

 two eggs of the Gull ; most of the Gulls' nests had three 

 eggs. This was probably the first time these islets had ever 

 been visited in the breeding-season. 



On June 17th we reached the Porsangerfjord, where we 

 stayed until the 24th, visiting several of the islands, and 

 making two excursions on the mainland. On June 26th 

 we left Hammerfest on the Norwegian tourist steamer, and 

 finished our nesting, with the exception of the three hours 



