ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF LAPLAND. . 351 



them on the ground, as noticed by all other natu- 

 ralists. 



The ruff (Machetes pugnax, Cuv. ; " brushane," 

 Sw.) was very common on the fell meadows, and 

 early in July we used to shoot the males with very 

 fine ruffs on them. 



But the finest and perhaps one of the com- 

 monest of our waders here was the greenshank (Tot 

 glottis, Bech. ; " glut ten," Sw. ; "vikkla," Lap.), 

 which came up here among the earliest in the spring, 

 and left certainly the earliest in the autumn. As I 

 had now a good opportunity of studying the habits 

 of this bird in the breeding season, I was much 

 struck with its resemblance to the green sand- 

 piper. The wild nature of the bird, its loud shrill 

 cry, " chee-wheet, chee-wheet," as it dashes 

 through the air with the speed of an arrow, and 

 its partiality for woodland lakes and streams, all 

 prove that it is more closely allied to the green 

 sandpiper than any other of the genus, and, save 

 that I always took the eggs from the ground, the 

 habits of the one bird seemed exactly to resemble 

 those of the other. The eggs of the greenshank 

 are often laid far away from water. I took a nest 

 once upon a stony rise right in an open forest, 

 about one hundred yards from a little beck, laid 

 on a thin layer of leaves. The eggs, always four 

 in number, are very large, pyriform; ground 



