July, 1885.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



109 



in Eiigliuul, was very noticeable this morning; 

 ami to-ilay I found the first nest, with five fresh 

 eggs, placed about three feet from the ground in 

 an angle formed by the stem and the fallen super- 

 structure of a Birch tree. The nest was com- 

 p.)<ed entirely of very fine dry white grass, with 

 a layer of dami) moss on the foundation. There 

 were no sticks about it, and it was very neat and 

 co[ni)act. I both saw and heard a single Tree 

 l'il)it (Anthiis arbonas) singing to-day, but I un- 

 fortunately missed it. In the afternoon we again 

 ascended the fjelds, where wc observed Tem- 

 minck's Stints gyrating in parties of three or four 

 high up in the air. At G.30 p. m., we crossed the 

 river to Gulholmcn. All then looked quiet and 

 as usual, but at 7.30 the whole of the ice in the 

 up|)er reaches of the Tana river had broken uj) 

 and was coming down in tens of thousands of 

 tons at the rate of about four miles per hour. 

 Tliis is the first indication that the natives have 

 (il the long looked for change from Winter to 

 Suniiner, though for days past wherever one 

 went the roaring of waters could be heard, indica- 

 tive of the rapid melting of the snow in the high 

 grounds. It is this natural water supply that is 

 tlie i)rimary cause of the breaking up of the ice ; 

 so severe is the AVinter in these latitudes that the 

 river becomes frozen to the very bottom, and it 

 rei[uires the accumulated force of the melted 

 snow water, getting under the ice, to lift the mass 

 bodily up, and once afloat, it is rapidly propelled 

 seawards. The movement to-night took place 

 gradually and steadily, nor was there so much of 

 that rush and confusion which one might expect 

 to see, where such a mighty change was taking 

 place. It seemed, however, to create a feeling of 

 excitement, not only in us, but in the birds; for 

 the Geese on the opposite shores of the river, the 

 Long-tailed Ducks, Divers, and other birds 

 seemed to make more clamoring than usual, as if 

 joyous at the signs of approaching Summer. A 

 single Long-tailed Skua (Stercururius paninilkuii) 

 went up the river to-night, and we observed a 

 solitary Swallow hawEing round the house at 

 Gulholmen, evidently just arrived. 



.Tune 11th. Mostof the ice had gone out while 

 we slept, and this morning wc had tine warm 

 Summer weather. On the fells to-day we ob- 

 served pairs of Snow Buntings [Pkctrophanes 

 aii'(ilin) flitting merrily about ; they were not yet 

 breeding, for in the ovaries of some which I ex- 

 amined the eggs were but slightly developed. 

 The feathers around their bills were always 

 stained purple with the juice of the "krokebwr," 

 a fell-berry on which they feed. I often noticed 

 in the hollow bare trunks of the decayed Birch 



trees large accumulations of red berries from 

 which Redpoles and Bramblings fr((iuenlly Hew 

 up as one approached ; and it seems as if these 

 berries form a Winter store for some creatures 

 which reside there, probaldy scpiirrels, though we 

 never saw any. The Mealy Kedpole is known to 

 Winter here, but the Brambling migrates south. 

 To-night the midnight sun was up in his fullest 

 majesty, but no heat seemed to reach the earth, 

 the air being clear and frosty. 



June 13tb. At 9.30 a. m., we left (iulholmen 

 and, with a Lap at one end of our boat and a 

 Qvane at the other, we "poled" incessantly up 

 the now open river until we reached I'ulmak, at 

 3.30 a. m., on. the following morning. I was sur- 

 l)rised at the absence of bird life, although there 

 were e.xtensive mud banks and shoals, apiiarcntly 

 well adapted for tlie Waders. We landed at 

 several likely looking spots on the way, at one of 

 which a pair of Wood Sandiiipers clearly had a 

 nest. Cmiimon Sandpipers, King Plovers, Tein- 

 minck's Stints, and Long-tailed Ducks were all 

 the birds we observed. About six miles north of 

 I'ulmak, and about midnight, I fluslied a strange 

 looking pair of birds from an "ene" (juniper) 

 bush. As they went awny I mistook them lor 

 Green Woodpeckers. I shot one of them as it 

 glided away with undulating flight, and my sur- 

 prise was great to pick up a Pine Grosbeak 

 {I'mkola cuudeator). Just tlien Trinus cried out 

 that he had found a nest, and on my coming up, 

 there was the pretty wickerwork nest with two 

 eggs of the Pine Grosbeak. On looking about 

 we soon saw the other bird sitting callously (piite 

 close to us, and slie completed the series. The 

 occurrence of this species north of the Arctic 

 circle had not previously, according to Professor 

 Collett (Orn. ^Jorlh. Norway, p. 32), been satis- 

 factorily established. The plumage of the Pine 

 Grosbeak appears to have always been an unset- 

 tled problem so I will merely state that both 

 birds, male and female, were of the greyish-green 

 type, the male having rather more of the orange 

 color than the female. It is clear that, although 

 the scarlet dress is considered by some to be the 

 adult plumage, this does not necessarily imply 

 that an immature bird cannot breed ; for if such 

 were the case here was a clear instance of two 

 immature Pine Grosbeaks having a nest and eggs. 

 The birds were roosting within twenty yards of 

 their nest, and when skinning the female I took a 

 third egg from her oviduct. I afterwards found 

 near Pulmak a male in full scarlet plumage paired 

 and nesting with an ash-grey female, and a tliird 

 nest was occupied by two greyish-green birds. 

 The nest of the Pine Grosbeak decidedly re- 

 sembles that of the Bullfinch, being constructed 



