140 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 9 



their nests are made of the roots of the ling and 

 moss, and lined with reindeer-hair. I observed a 

 Garden Warbler (Sylvia hortenm) singing quite 

 near me to-day, and obtained a Wigeon's nest, 

 with six fresh eggs. They were laid under a 

 willow bush on the banks of the Tana. House 

 Martins are busy nesting in the crags, and Grey- 

 headed Wagtails are very common. We obtained 

 two nests of the latter with fresh eggs to-day. A 

 Lap brought me a very interesting nest of the 

 Great Grey Shrike, constructed, as usual, of the 

 white feathers of the Willow Grouse; but this 

 was overlaid with glossy Raven's feathers, and 

 the lining, on which the single egg was deposited, 

 consisted of reindeer hair. 



June 29th. While we slept the grass round 

 our little house had turned green, and I was as- 

 sured it would be two feet high in ten days' time, 

 so rapid is the growth of plants and trees in the 

 short Arctic Summer. We took leave of Pulmak 

 and our kind landlord to-day, and as we turned 

 the bend in the river, we could not help being 

 struck with the wondrous change that we had 

 witnessed during our short stay. Our journey 

 down the river was rapid, and, reaching Gulhol- 

 men about 10 p. m. , we proceeded to Vagge, the 

 station at the head of the Tana Fiord, where the 

 steamer was to pick us up. As we crossed the 

 fiord a White-tailed Eagle slowly flapped across 

 in front of us, and we were rather astonished to 

 see several hundred Mergansers in a flock at Uiis 

 time of the year. The "gaggling" of Geese on 

 the flats at the mouth of the Tana gave us hoiies 

 of finding their eggs on the next day. We then 

 visited the ground wliere I had seen the Red- 

 throated Pipits (AntJius cerviniis) on June 9th; 

 their shrill pipe again arrested our attention, and 

 after a long search we succeeded in finding a nest 

 with six slightly incubated eggs. It was placed 

 under a Birch bush, on a moss-hag, surrounded 

 by water, and consisted of very stiff stalks of 

 grass externally, and finer white grass for alining, 

 but the whole was of a distinctly rougher texture 

 and construction than is the nest of its congener, 

 the ]Meadow Pipit. I was very careful in the 

 identification of these eggs; and after finding the 

 nest, we watched the female, tliough very sly 

 and retiring, go on to it, when I procured her. 

 Their habits now were more retiring than former- 

 ly, and they rarely showed themselves, seeming 

 to prefer creeping along among the roots of the 

 Birch scrub, whence, when unmolested, they 

 littered a pleasing little song, at times not unlike 

 that of a Canary. Their eggs have suffused 

 blotches on them, and more resemble those of the 

 Blackcap than those of the Meadow Pipit. Pres- 

 ently we flushed a Temminck's Stint from her 



nest and four eggs, placed far away from water; 

 and from about the last tree in Europe came the 

 loud cackle of a Siberian Jay, which proved to 

 be a fledgling of the year. 



On the bare fell-tops we found Snow Buntings 

 and a pair of Shore Larks; from the oviduct of 

 one of the latter I took an egg ready for laying. 

 These birds are said by Summerfelt, the Vadso 

 naturalist, to breed twice; and this would seem 

 to corroborate his statement. They must have a 

 considerable vertical breeding range, for though 

 breeding at Pulmak at the lowest possible level, 

 they seemed here to vie with the Snow Bunting 

 in the altitude of their haunts. We revisited the 

 Osprey"s breeding place, and were surprised to 

 find a new nest, from which the bird flew at our 

 approach, but it was empty. I believe this nest 

 had been built by the male bird alone, for though 

 we waited some time, we never saw more than 

 tliis single Osprey. We oliserved to-day a large 

 flock of Geese, some hundreds together, and at 

 our approach they rose wild and departed, just 

 as they had done on June 9th. Could these birds 

 be going to breed ? We were much puzzled by 

 these flocks of Mergansers and Geese at this sea- 

 son of the year. The mosquitoes were beginning 

 to affect us seriously now: the his.sing column 

 followed us alike on mountain top and lowland 

 bog; escape was impossible. In a short walk on 

 the fells in the evening of July 1st I .shot a female 

 Ptarmigan (Lagopus muius); her ovary contained 

 fifteen undeveloped eggs. A pair of Bramblings 

 were evidently nesting on this fcU-sidc, though 

 there was no plant growth exceeding two feet in 

 height. Next day, on a bent-grass island in the 

 fiord, we found two nests of Temminck's Stints, 

 each containing four eggs, and a Mealy Redpole's 

 nest had one fresh egg. On the 3d the Vadso 

 steamer was due at 8 p. m. ; but as tlie boat did 

 not arrive till exactly twelve hours afterwards, in 

 strict accordance with Norwegian practice, we 

 passed the time in watching the seals and small 

 flocks of old male Goldeneyes in their mature 

 plumage, the white cheek spot being very con- 

 spicuous. On the 4tli, at 8.30 a. m., the steamer 

 'Orion' arrived; we rounded the dreary -looking 

 cliffs of the North Cape about midday (July 5th), 

 and reached Hammerfest at night. On the even- 

 ing of July 0th we reached Tromso, and I spent 

 the night watching the birds on the west side of 

 the island. Redshanks, Oyster-catchers, and 

 Ring Plovers were simply swarming, and I 

 caught young in down of each. Great flocks of 

 Eiders, ducks and drakes with their young, with 

 one brood of Long-tailed Ducks, Black Guille- 

 mots, Red-throated Divers, and various Gulls 

 fairly covered the smooth surface of the fiord. 



