296 CHAMBERLAIN, Bzrds of Southern Greenland. - [October 
In 1887 the first spring arrivals were noticed on March 30, and the next 
comers on April 3, and five days later a flock of twenty or thirty were seen. 
These early birds did not remain, but passed on farther north, and the birds 
that built near Ivigtut did not arrive until the last days of April. 
Two nests have been found by Mr. Hagerup at an elevation of some 300 
feet, and one at 200 feet above sea level. One, discovered on June 26, 1886, 
contained very young chicks, and another, taken June 14, 1887, contained 
young old enough to sit on the edge of thenest. Both nests were situated 
amid large rocks, and being placed between one and two feet from the top 
of a high boulder, were hard to reach. ‘They were very solidly built, and 
were lined with white feathers, probably of the Ptarmigan. Other nests 
have been found, and while the birds build at different elevations, from 
close by the margin of the water up to the highlands, the favorite location 
is about 1ooo to 1600 feet up the hillsides. 
The parent birds are not at all shy when about the nest, but are rather 
silent. While Mr. Hagerup was standing near one nest the female flew to 
it with an insect in her bill, and in another instance the parent entered a 
nest not ten feet away from the observer. In July the young birds gather 
about the houses in the village. 
“The song of this species,” Mr. Hagerup writes,‘‘is euphonic and har- 
monious ; but itis rendered in brief stanzas—there is no continuous melody.” 
‘“‘Warbling is, perhaps, the English word that would best represent the 
character of the song.” 
In the fall of 1886 the last examples were seen on October 25. In 18847 
they were common on October 13. 
Calcarius lapponicus. LAPLAND LoNncspur. — In the vicinity of Ivig- 
tut this is the least numerous of the four species of singing birds that occur. 
The relative numbers are about one Longspur to five Wheatears, ten 
Snowflakes, and ten or fifteen Redpolls. 
In 1886 the first spring comers were seen on May 24, and in 1887 on May 
22. The favorite nesting site is in flat, moist ground covered with grass or 
low bushes. Mr. Hagerup has not seen any nests at a higher elevation 
than some 200 feet. In Ivigtut valley, which contains about one third of 
an English square mile, some six or eight pairs were breeding during the 
summer of 1887. 
A nest discovered on June 16 was placed in deep moss ina moist spot 
in the valley, on the outskirts of a willow thicket, and in the vicinity of 
water. It was composed exteriorly of dried grass and roots, and lined 
with white Ptarmigan’s feathers. In it were seven eggs slightly incubated. 
On July 3 a young bird, that could hardly fly, was captured by a dog. 
This species has several alarm notes and calls of which the principal is 
a rather pleasing, though sad, flute-like note resembling ¢lvo or ¢lue. The 
song, which sounds best when the bird, after mounting up in the sky, drops 
slowly to the earth with extended motionless wings, is not very long, but 
has a fine, flute-like tone, and though agreeable to the ear is rather melan- 
choly, as all the notes of this bird are. There is no variation in the song, 
nor is it repeated with great frequency. It is, however, the finest heard in 
these wilds, | 
