

270 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



sembling that of the goat- sucker. It is a very- 

 bold bird, and I once saw a short-eared owl actually 

 beat off a golden eagle from the vicinity of the 

 nest. I have often been amused, while lying by 

 my camp-fire on the fells at midnight, by watch- 

 ing the curious gyrations of this bird in the air, 

 which much reminded me of the common lapwing. 

 Its loud cry, "wau-au," is like the barking of a dog. 

 We always used to find the nest on the ground, 

 on the lower fells (not on the snow- fells), and the 

 full number of eggs appeared to be six. The egg 

 tolerably round, measuring 1^ by 1^ inches. 



Neither the long-eared owl (Strix otus, L.), 

 nor the brown owl (Strix aluco, Gm.) are met 

 with in Lapland at least certainly not in this 

 district. Old Acerbi, however, includes the latter 

 among the birds of Lapland, but we cannot place 

 much faith in his ornithological remarks ; for if 

 his description be at all correct, some very curious 

 kinds, many of which must now be extinct, 

 appear to have been met with in Lapland at his 

 day. 



There are, however, two other Lap owls which 

 I never met with myself in this district the Lap 

 owl (Strix Lapponica, Retz. ; " aapu," Lap. ; " Lap 

 uggla," Sw.), which does not appear to have been 

 known until the end of the last century, and the 

 Ural owl (StrixUralensis, Pall.; "slag uggla," Sw.), 



