392 My. H. J. Elwes’s Field-notes 
do not arrive in the north of Norway and Russia before 
June. But the large series of unquestionable Great Snipe’s 
eggs taken here by Mr. Benzon’s collector, and the positive 
assurance of several residents, who could have no reason for 
deceiving us, and who had frequently shot the young birds 
in June and July, make the matter beyond a doubt, though 
I fear that their numbers are constantly decreasing, owing 
to shooting and egging, which, though prohibited by law, 
seems to go on much the same here as elsewhere. 
Besides Scolopax major we saw one or two Common Snipes, 
and numerous parties of Ruffs, Godwits (Limosa melanura), 
Redshanks (Totanus calidris) ,Wood-Sandpipers (T. glareola), 
Dunlins (Tringa alpina), all of which were breeding in con- 
siderable numbers. Machetes pugnax had hardly began to 
lay as yet; and the Godwit, by the frantic way in which they 
screamed over our heads in certain places, seemed to have 
young, though one nest of fresh eggs was found by Seebohm. 
Herons, Bitterns, and Harriers were, however, absent or very 
rare in the neighbourhood, and of Grebes, Rails, Coots, or 
Moorhens we saw neither birds nor eggs. Their absence was 
compensated for by Ducks, of which the Shoveller (Anas cly- 
peata), Garganey (A. circia), and Wild Duck (A. boscas) were 
sitting on their nests in the flat grassy pastures of the marsh. 
The Shovellers, of whose nests we found four or five, were, in 
some cases, near hatching, and lay ten or twelve eggs in a nest 
well lined with down. The Garganey, whose eggs were 
brought to us, has a very dark-coloured down, easily distin- 
guished from that of the Teal by its white tips. The Pin- 
tail also breeds near here; but I neither saw nor heard any 
thing of A. strepera, A. nyroca, or A. cristata, none of which 
has been found breeding in Denmark, as Mr. Benzon thinks. _ 
Totanus glottis and T. ochropus, which might fairly be ex- 
pected here, are also absent, and have not been identified as 
breeding in Jutland, though the latter certainly does so, both 
north and south of it. Of small birds, Budytes flavus was very 
numerous in the marsh, Alauda arvensis and Emberiza miliaria 
on the cultivated land round it. I also saw at least one 
