FLOWERS ON THE TUNDRA 385 



bloom. A sort of yellow pansy was the first to appear 

 after the wood-anemone, the Jacob's ladder was common, 

 a dwarf rose was just bursting into flower, and the air 

 was fragrant with the aromatic rhododendron-like shrub, 

 Ledum palustre ; the wild onion and the wild rhubarb 

 were flowering, and on the sand we sometimes found 

 quantities of the graceful Anemone pulsatilla. Birds 

 were abundant ; I took two nests of the fieldfare only a 

 few yards distant from each other, showing that they 

 were to some extent gregarious, also a nest of willow- 

 grouse with three eggs. In one part of the forest I heard 

 a small bird flying round and round uttering a cry like 

 na-na-na. Whilst I was watching it I was called away, 

 but before leaving I fired at the bird and missed. I 

 afterwards returned to the same place and saw and heard 

 the bird again. Again I fired and missed it, and I then sat 

 down to watch. The bird came within twenty yards of 

 me, alighted in a birch, and in less than a minute dropped 

 down on the ground. As I neither saw it nor heard 

 anything more of it for five minutes I concluded that it 

 had dropped into its nest. I walked up to the place ; a 

 fallen birch-tree was lying across a tussock of moss and 

 bilberry. I tapped the birch-tree with my gun, and the 

 bird flew out of the tussock. I soon found the nest, and 

 turning round I shot the bird. It proved to be only our 

 willow-warbler. This alarm-note was one quite new to 

 me. The nest was as usual semi-domed, and profusely 

 lined with feathers. The eggs were very small, and 

 thickly marked with light red spots. I saw one or two 

 snipes and shot two male Eastern stonechats. The 

 martins were busy hawking for mosquitoes ; some of 

 them had eggs in their nests. Fortunately I brought a 

 few home, for, as already stated, the species proved to be 

 different from our European martin. We had a cold 



2 B 



