25 [Vol. xv. 



already done for Scotland, and also to enlist the co-operation 

 of Irish naturalists. 



" The initial expenses would he very small, and we do 

 not think it would be necessary to ask for any funds 

 immediately. 



" Such is the scheme we venture to lay before you this 

 evening. No more need, I think, be said, except to ask 

 the Chairman to allow an expression of opinion to be taken 

 either to-night or at our next meeting, in order that, as we 

 hope, the matter may take some definite shape." 



Dr. Penrose's statement met with unanimous approval, and. 

 the Chairman proposed that the subject should be discussed 

 at the next Meeting of the Club. 



Mr. S. A. Davies and Mr. J. Stares exhibited eggs of 

 the Dusky Redshank (Totanus fuscus) and made the 

 following remarks : — 



We were successful this year in finding five nests of the 

 Dusky Redshank {Totanus fuscus) on the borders of Russian 

 Finland and Swedish Lapland. The birds were fairly 

 numerous, but their range did not extend very far beyond 

 the limits of the fir-forests, above which they were somewhat 

 scarce, ceasing altogether about lat. 68° 40' N. 



John Wolley found that they nested far from water on 

 the fir-clad hills, especially in the neighbourhood of ground 

 that had been recently burnt, but he heard from the Finns 

 that the birds occasionally nested on the marshes. All our 

 nests were taken in the marshes themselves. The nests 

 are extremely difficult to find, in fact it is only by luck 

 in the course of beating that one stumbles on them. The 

 nest is a mere scrape on a hummock in the cloudberry 

 marsh. The male apparently incubates, as the birds flushed 

 from eggs were of that sex, and one of our Finns with a 

 stick knocked over a male bird which had the breast-feathers 

 much worn from incubation. 



The presence of birds of either sex in the marshes is no 

 indication of the whereabouts of the nest, as any Dusky 

 Redshank disturbed while feeding will behave exactly as if 



