SONG AND NESTING. 477 



with great dissatisfaction. Pain as well as pleasure await on 

 these filles de joie of the ocean ; for imagining that even 

 though dead they will be equally courted as when alive, 

 the sportsman always picks them out from the rest, so that 

 when stuffed they may serve to decoy their admirers within 

 reach of the murderous gun." 



The song, so to say, of the hareld, is not unmusical. 

 It is something like calloo the name by which the bird 

 goes in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Some people 

 in Sweden liken it to the notes of the clarionet. Though 

 monotonous, it is very pleasing, especially when many 

 join in the concert; at all events, the sprightliness of 

 the bird, its being eternally on the move, and its wild 

 and interesting cry, tend greatly to give life to the Skargard> 

 which, without animated nature, would otherwise be deso- 

 lation itself. 



Though Swedish naturalists tell us that the hareld rarely 

 breeds on this side of the polar circle, there is good reason to 

 believe that many nest in the morasses amongst the Dovre- 

 field, and other mountain ranges of Norway which are in a 

 considerably lower latitude. Lapland more especially the 

 north-eastern part of that country it is probable, however, 

 is its chief resort during the summer months. It makes 

 its appearance there about May, mostly in its dark summer 

 plumage, which, indeed, it for a great part assumes prior to 

 leaving the sea-coast; and breeds in very great numbers in 

 all the fresh-water lakes and tarns studding the face of that 

 wild country. 



It makes its nest, which is lined with down, in marshy 

 ground, near to the water, amongst grass, or under leafy 

 plants, that afford some sort of shelter. The female lays 



