170 NATURAL HISTORY. 



dry tussocky ridges intersecting the bog, containing four eggs about the size and shape of the Golden 

 Plover's, but more like those of the Lapwing in colour. The nest was a hollow, evidently scratched, 

 perfectly round, somewhat deep, and containing a handful of broken, slender twigs and reindeer-moss. 

 . . . Our seventh and eighth nests of the Grey Plover we took on the 9th of July. We set sail 

 at noon, with a north-east wind, to visit the tundra eight or ten versts higher up the great river. 

 For some distance before we landed the coast was very flat, with willows down to the water's edge. 

 Among these dwarf trees we repeatedly heard the Petchora Pipit (Anthus seebohmi), and the Siberian 

 ChifFchaff (Phylloscopus tristis). As soon as we got beyond the willows we landed on the tundra, and 

 started in pursuit of a large flock of Buflbn's Skuas, but were soon stopped by a pair of Grey 

 Plovers, which showed by their actions that we were near the nest. We lay down as before, 

 about forty or fifty yards apart, and watched the birds. They ran about, up and down, and all round 

 us ; and at the end of half an hour we were no wiser than at first. There was evidently something 

 wrong. Harvie Brown then shouted to me, ' Have you marked the nest 1 ' I replied by walking 

 up to him and comparing notes. We then watched for another half hour with exactly the same 

 result. I suggested that we must be so near the nest that the bird dare not come on, and advised that 

 we should retreat to the next ridge, which we accordingly did. We had not done so many minutes 

 before the female made her way on to the ridge where we had been lying. She then ran along the top 

 of the ridge, passed the place where we had been stationed, and came down the ridge on to the flat bog 

 towards where we then were. I whispered ' She is actually crossing over to us ! ' Suddenly she 

 stopped, lifted her wings, and settled down on the ground. . . . Harvie Brown lifted his gun to 

 his shoulder. She ran off the nest to the top of the ridge till he tumbled her over. We then walked 

 up to the nest, the first we had seen on the flat. The eggs were quite fresh, or nearly so ; and the 

 nest must have been made nearly a fortnight later than those we had previously taken. During that 

 time the bogs had become much dryer, so that we could cross them without much difficulty ; and this 

 would probably be the reason why this nest was placed lower down. The eggs had all the appear- 

 ance of a second laying, being less blotched than usual, one of them remarkably so. It is worth 

 noticing that whilst we were watching in our first position, very near the nest, the birds were nearly 

 quite silent, and did not call to each other as they usually do. 



" Our ninth nest of the Grey Plover we took on the 12th of July. A stiff warm gale from the 

 east, with occasional smart showers of rain, kept the air clear of mosquitoes in the morning. In the 

 afternoon the wind fell, and the mosquitoes were as bad as ever, but we were too busy to heed them 

 much. At eleven we crossed to the tundra. We soon came upon a pair of Grey Plovers, which rose 

 a couple of hundred yards ahead of us, their wings glittering in a gleam of sunshine after a smart 

 shower. These birds have frequently a very curious flight as they rise from the nest, tossing their 

 wings up in the air, reminding one somewhat of the actions of a Tumbler Pigeon. We lay down, as 

 near the nest as we could tell, near the spot from which they rose, and were somewhat puzzled at 

 their behaviour. The male seemed as anxious as the female, if not more so, running about as much 

 as she did, contimially crying, and often coming very near us, and trying to attract our attention 

 by pretending to be lame. The female rarely uttered a note. We suppose this must have been 

 because one of us was too near the nest. Harvie Brown moved his post of observation, after we had 

 spent some time without being able to discover anything ; and then the female behaved as usual, and 

 I soon marked the position of the nest. We walked straight up to it, and found the four eggs chipped 

 for hatching. We had no difficulty in shooting both birds, and afterwards hatched out two of the 

 eggs, obtaining a couple of good specimens of young in down. With a little practice this mode of 

 finding birds' nests becomes almost a certainty. One has first to be quite sure which is the male and 

 which the female. When the birds are near enough, and one can compare them together, the greater 

 blackness of the breast of the male is sufficient to distinguish him ; but we found that the females 

 varied considerably in this respect, and that it was better to notice the habits of the birds. The 

 female usually comes first to the nest, but she comes less conspicuously. She generally makes her 

 appearance at a considerable distance, on some ridge of mossy land. When she has looked round she 

 runs quickly to the next ridge, and looks round again, generally calling to the male with a single note. 

 The male seldom replies, but when he does so it is generally with a double note. When the female 

 has stopped and looked round many times, then the male thinks it worth while to move ; but more 



