108 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 7 



summit of a Birch tree. Then a pair of Wood 

 Sandpipers (Totanxm glareola), witli a splendid 

 loud call note, flow \ip. one of them deliberately 

 lijjlitinjc on the summit of a slender hough and 

 steadying itself with outstretched wings, the other 

 seeking slieltcr in the scnib. Both these birds 

 and Temminck's Stint have yellow ochre colored 

 legs and feet. Blue-throats, Titlarks, Willow 

 Wrens and Wheatears were also munerous. A 

 thotisand feet above us, in a line of lofty crags, 

 two pairs of Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregritiiix) 

 and one pair of Os])reys (Pamlion Jtidinetiis) were 

 circling round, their fine wild cries echoing 

 through the crags; but when, after a laborious 

 climb, we reached the summit of this precipice, 

 thcj' only soared higher, and we could sec no 

 signs of a nest. While sitting here a Raven, also 

 evidently nesting in the crag, flew past us, his 

 throat distended with the food he was carrying 

 for his young. I disturbed a couple of moun- 

 tain hares here; they were .just beginning to get 

 the grej' fur of Summer. Large herds of rein- 

 deer were also seeking their scanty living of 

 lichens on the highest fell-tops; these were the 

 tame animals belonging to the Laps, but already 

 turned out for the Summer. Here they are al- 

 lowed to roam at large until the Autumn, and 

 such is their instinctive dread of the pestilent 

 mosijuito, that they seldom depart from the 

 highest and coldest parts of the fells. When 

 skinning birds to-night I found that l)oth the 

 Temminck's Stints and the Lapland Buntings 

 had very small embryo eggs in their ovaries. 



.Iiuie Ttli. On our return to the crag opposite 

 Oulholmen, the Ospreys were there, but only one 

 pair of Peregrines. When sitting on the crag 

 top the female Osprey appeared carrying a long 

 twisted stick in her talons, her long thighs dang- 

 ling below her. It was evident that she had a 

 nest, and presently we found it, placed on the 

 summit of a detached pinnacle of rock projecting 

 from the main crag. It was utterly inaccessible, 

 either from above or belo<*v; but we could see it 

 contained no eggs, although it was lined out with 

 green moss. I afterwards shot the female Os- 

 prey, and found that she had very small eggs in 

 her ovary; the legs and feet as ■well as the cere 

 were a pale pea-green color. On the 8th of June 

 I observed the only Chaffinch (Fringilla ccelfbs) 

 that I saw whilst in Finmark. 



June 9th. jNIuch snow fell to-day, with a bitter- 

 ly cold wind. On the sandflats at the junction of the 

 Tana with its fiord were about a hundred Gee.se, 

 sitting on the bare sand amongst some stranded ice 

 floes. Adjoining the sandflats, and between them 

 and the snow Ijelds, was first a narrow space of 



rather long grass, with frequent pools of snow 

 water, and then about half a mile of semi-iniui- 

 dated Birch scrub. It was in the grassy parts 

 that I first became acquainted with the Red- 

 throated Pipits (Anthus ccrninix). Tluy soeme<l 

 retiring in their habits, running rapidly along the 

 ground, like a mouse, keeping the body very low 

 and horizontal. They were difficult to see in this 

 position, and if one approached nearer to them, a 

 pair would spring up into the air with a shrill 

 pipe, and allow themselves to be carried by the 

 wind perhaps a himdred yards to leeward, W'hen 

 they would, with jerky flight, beat up again, to 

 re-alight on their favorite spot. Though I pro- 

 cured several, I could not detect any sexual 

 difference in the crcam-coloiing on the throat. 



While sheltering underneath a sand bank from 

 a pitiless snow storm, a Raven came past us, his 

 throat distended with food. Then a Rough- 

 legged Buzzard with very light-colored plumage 

 alighted on a rock near at hand and sat ([uictly 

 pluming himself. Presently an Osprey, with 

 buoyant flight, loomed through the snow flakes, 

 and checking his speed, hovered for an instant ; 

 then, with headlong swoop, he dashed into the 

 waters of the fiord, reappearing with a fish dang- 

 ling from his talons. After shaking himself, he 

 flew past us, and, on being fired at, dropped the 

 fish ; dissatisfied, he swooped at it when fitUing, 

 but did not succeed in overtaking it. The fish 

 proved to be a sole, O^.s' inches long and G inches 

 wide, with but one claw mark in the body, and 

 lived for many hours afterwards. While trying 

 to ascend the side of a fjeld we distinctlj' made out 

 several Geese feeding on some shallow water, and 

 approaching nearer, I could easily see they were 

 one or other of the two White-fronted species. 

 Whilst watching them a male Merganser swam 

 quite near to me, and having caught a small fish, 

 was chased and bidlied by a Herring Gnll till he 

 was compelled to take flight. This seemed to 

 disturb the Geese, for they ceased feeding, and 

 with outstretched necks peered around suspicious- 

 ly. When I fired at them a pair of Redshanks 

 rose close to me, and walking home that night I 

 secured one of a pair of Ring Plovers by the 

 riverside. 



June 10th. Heavy snow storms greeted us to- 

 day. I saw the first Grey-headed Yellow Wagtail 

 {MotiiciUa cincrencapilla) this morning, which had 

 seemingly just arrived here. In the Birch forests, 

 though deep in snow, we found four nests of the 

 Mealy Redpole, all in course of construction ; the 

 old birds were absurdly tame. The nests were 

 very pretty, lined with the white woolly material 

 of the Willow scrub. The monotonous, though 

 lively carol of the Redwing, which we never hear 



