146 STANAVIALACHTA 



impassable bog. The vegetation also was more abundant, 

 the flowers more varied, and the willows and dwarf birch- 

 trees more numerous. The weather was very unfavour- 

 able ; a strong gale was blowing from the west, and it 

 was very cold, with occasional attempts at rain, yet we 

 saw many birds. The red-throated pipit was by far the 

 commonest. My companion shot a meadow-pipit from a 

 tree, and caught another sitting on its nest. We saw 

 several golden plover, a flock of seven or eight Buffon's 

 skuas, a pair of dotterel, and one or two shore-larks, 

 besides securing the nest of a bean-goose containing two 

 eggs. On the grassy top of a mound, half-way down the 

 mud cliffs overlooking the great river, and within sight 

 of the Arctic Ocean, I came upon the eyrie of a peregrine 

 falcon. It contained four eggs, one of which was much 

 lighter in colour than the others. This mound had 

 probably been used for some years as a nesting-place by 

 the falcons, since the grass was much greener upon it 

 than upon the surrounding places. A little way off there 

 rose another mound, just similar to it, and this was 

 apparently the falcons' dining-table, for scattered all 

 about it were feathers of grouse, long-tailed duck, and 

 divers small birds. 



While I remained near the nest, the two falcons 

 hovered around, uttering sharp cries ; when I approached 

 nearer still, they redoubled their screams, hovered over 

 me, closed their wings, and descended perpendicularly 

 till within a few yards of my head. Their movements 

 were so rapid that I wasted half a dozen cartridges in 

 trying to secure them, and had at last to leave them, 

 baffled in the attempt. My companion and I returned 

 to the charge on the following day ; but again we were 

 defeated. A mile up the river, however, we found a 

 second eyrie upon an exactly similar green-topped 



