292 A SPUING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



so brilliant, although the black was nearly as deep. 

 But one thing I remarked in the spring, that in 

 twenty-four hours after the bird was killed the 

 yellow colour appeared to fade. When skinning 

 them in the spring, I always observed a faint, 

 musky smell about them. Sommerfeet describes 

 the nest and egg thus : " They breed as well 

 close to the sea as further inland; not always 

 among grass and moss, but in gravel, and among 

 the dead leaves which have fallen from the birch 

 bushes. The nest is built of grass, and I never saw 

 any feathers in it. Their three to five eggs are in 

 general yellow, or yellow-grey, with yellowish- 

 grey or grey-blue and brown spots, often crowded 

 at the large end. You find them breeding early 

 in May, and also in July." 



Strange to say, I can neither describe the nest 

 nor egg of this bird ; for, although we never went 

 on to the fells in the summer without seeing them, 

 and in the middle of July we shot many young, we 

 were never able to find a single nest, much as we 

 searched localities where we felt certain that the 

 bird bred. I cannot help thinking that on these 

 fells the old female builds her nest in crevices of 

 rocks, and often far in under stones ; for I have 

 more than once seen her come out of such places, 

 and by her habits it appeared as if she had just 

 left the nest. By the end of July both males and 

 females were in deep moult. 



