58 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



them gave themselves up to feeding and arranging their feathers 

 (giving great attention to the tail-plumes), the fourth stood 

 perfectly still, with erect neck, as sentry. The rest of our party 

 examined them also, and the remark was made that they looked 

 " almost as large as Ostriches." They certainly looked very 

 large. 



Golden Plover, Charadrius pluvialis (L.) — I did not find this 

 bird as common on the Dovre Fjeld as I expected. I saw three 

 pairs feeding on the marshes at Fokstuen in the evening ; at 

 Hjerkinn I found a nest, from which, as I wanted a specimen in 

 full summer dress, I shot the bird. There were two things note- 

 worthy ; that, though the eggs were fresh, the bird lay on the 

 nest till almost trodden on, which conduct generally indicates, 

 with the Golden Plover, that the eggs are not far from being 

 hatched ; secondly, that the sitting bird, as I found on dissection, 

 was a male. I have never seen it remarked that the male Golden 

 Plover assists in incubation. 



Dotterel, Eudromias morinellus (L.) — I only saw this bird 

 once ; one of the pairs of Golden Plover, which I have mentioned 

 as feeding in the marshes at Fokstuen, was accompanied by a 

 solitary Dotterel. 



Red-necked Phalarope, Pltalaropus Ityperboreus (L.) — Pretty 

 common in the marshes at Fokstuen, but showing a preference 

 (as many birds do there) for one spot. Not breeding when I was 

 there, as evident from the ovary of one female. Very tame, pretty 

 little birds, looking on the water like miniature ducks, from their 

 plump shape and carriage. When you come upon them in the 

 marshes they rarely rise, unless you throw something at them, 

 but swim about in a pool ten yards from you, and retire behind a 

 tussock to hide if you make demonstrations ; they were such nice 

 little birds that I could hardly persuade myself to shoot any. I 

 saw none at Hjerkinn. 



Woodcock, Scolopax rnsticola (L.) — Of this bird I only found 

 the dried remains in a small " gill " near Lillehammer. 



Great Snipe, Gallinago major (Gm.) — Pretty common at 

 Fokstuen in the marshes, the only place I saw it alive, though I 

 picked up a freshly-killed female under the telegraph-wires near 

 Hjerkinn Station. I found one nest at Fokstuen, on a hummock 

 of turf in a dry part of the marsh, placed under a bush of Vacci- 

 nium uliginosum ,• the bird rose silently (as the Great Snipe 



