302 BIRD LIFE IN LAPLAND. 



rule amongst regular migrants, the further North a 

 bird goest to breed, the further South it goes to 

 winter." * Both Mr. Seebohm and Mr. Dixon enter 

 into numerous details to prove the truth of this 

 assertion which is held by both of them to be 

 strictly in accordance with known facts; but space 

 forbids us to do more than to indicate the works of 

 these authors, to which the reader may refer for further 

 information on the subject, f 



To many persons it may appear a matter of surprise 

 that delicate creatures such as many birds are known 

 to be as for instance the swallow, and the sand-martin 

 should in many cases seek a home, to rear their tender 

 nestlings, amid the rigours of an arctic climate ; it 

 must however be remembered that the brief period of 

 summer there is like the bloom upon a youthful 

 cheek, very beautiful and attractive, though fleeting. 

 More than 160 years ago for instance, the great Linnaeus, 

 in the journal of his tour in Lapland, recorded his 

 impressions of the climate in these words 

 "June 24, 1732. Midsummer's Day. Blessed be the Lord 

 for the beauty of summer, and of spring, and for what is 

 here in greater perfection than almost anywhere else in the 

 world : the air, the water, the verdure of the herbage, and 

 the song of birds." 



So also nearly 150 years afterwards, Mr. H. W. 

 Wheelwright, after alluding to the beauty of the scenery, 



* The Geographical Distribution of the Family Charadriidce or 

 the Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and their Allies, by Henry Seebohm, 

 1888, p. 36. 



j- Some further details respecting bird migrations will be found in 

 Chapter xviii on Wild Fowl and Wild Fowl Shooting in Vol. iii. 



Lachesis Lapponica, by Carl von Linnaeus, translated by Dr. J. E. 

 Smith, M.D., President of the Linnsean Society of London, 1811, 

 Vol. i., p. 244. 



