122 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



had just now begun to " lek" or play), at least 

 three weeks later than in Wermland ; and three 

 willow grouse. Up to. the 23rd the spring 

 migrants kept arriving. The ice and snow now 

 went very fast ; the waterfall had burst through 

 its icy covering, and the river just at Quickiock 

 was open. But the travelling was now dangerous 

 and troublesome, although the post did manage to 

 row down on the 25th. Spring, however, had 

 now fairly set in, many of the birds were building, 

 and on the 22nd we had 30 Celsius (86 Fahr.) in 

 the sun. But the meadows looked as brown as a 

 turnpike road, and not a tree was yet in leaf. 

 We had now occasional warm showers, and the 

 heavy mist that hung over the fells, entirely ob- 

 scuring their snow- clad summits, betokened that 

 the melting, or action of the snow, was fast going 

 on. I plucked the first wild flower, a little kind 

 of yellow dandelion, in the snow on the 17th. 

 They began ploughing on the 18th, and by the 

 end of the month the barley was all in. The 

 grayling now began to run into the bow-nets, and 

 they were full of spawn, although I fancied 

 their season over. On the 23rd we could very 

 well get up on to the fells and into the forests,, 

 and our egg season had now fairly commenced. 

 On the 27th I bathed for the first time, the water 

 icy cold. On the 31st the birches were just 



