13 
been commendable had it been qualified by either gratitude or good faith, previously informed 
Mr. Wolley that a naturalist in the Finnish capital had for some time offered a reward of fifty 
rubles (about £9) for a nest of the Waxwing, and suggested that the Sardio lads were entitled to 
the prize; whereupon Mr. Wolley immediately divided that sum (in addition to the some hundred 
dollars they had already received) among all who were engaged in the glorious affair of the 7th 
of June, 1856, and at the same time wrote to the University of Helsingfors to say that he could 
not allow its authorities to pay for his discovery. A brief notice of the booty acquired by 
Dr. E. Nylander will be found in the Appendix to the last edition of Professor Nilsson’s excellent 
work*, communicated to him by Professor Alexander von Nordmann, who also furnished a more 
detailed account to the ‘Journal fiir Ornithologie’ for the following year, illustrated with figures 
from the specimens thus obtained f. 
‘The summer of 1858, when Mr. Wolley was with me in Iceland, was ‘a great year for 
Waxwings.’ Not far from a hundred and fifty nests were found by persons in his employment 
in Lapland, and some of them close to Muoniovara. It seems, as nearly as I have been able to 
ascertain, that no less than six hundred and sixty-six eggs were collected; and more than twenty 
more were obtained by Herr Keitel of Berlin, who happened, without, I believe, any expectation 
of the luck that was in store for him, to be that year on the Muonio river.” 
In 1858 I was in Finland, and, as usual, spent as much time as I could spare in the study 
of natural history, and was fortunate in being able then to take the nest of the Waxwing with 
my own hands. On my return to England I gave my notes to Professor Newton, who told me 
that he purposed to publish an account of the nidification of this species; and they were included 
in his paper above quoted as follows :— 
“This same year (1858) saw an Englishman, however, accomplish what Mr. Wolley only 
partially succeeded in doing. The interesting account of an independent discovery of the 
breeding of the Waxwing, with which the kindness of Mr. H. E. Dresser has furnished me, 
will, I am sure, be read with pleasure; and I leave that gentleman to narrate his exploit in his 
own language :— 
“¢<Tn 1858 I was a short time in Uleaborg, while on my way from Stockholm wd Tornea to 
St. Petersburg; and having a little time on my hands, I spent it in company with Mr. John 
Granberg, of Uleaborg, collecting in the neighbourhood of the town. We intended to pass a 
day or two amongst the small islands near the harbour, and determined to visit one called 
Sandon, about four Swedish (twenty-seven English) miles from Uleaborg. 
“¢We (that is, Granberg, a student by name Heikel, and myself) left the town on the 
evening of the 3rd of July, in a little boat, and sailed to Warjakka, an island outside the 
harbour, where we provisioned for our trip. We then started for Sandon, but, there being but 
little wind, did not arrive off the island until about two o’clock in the morning. We grounded 
at some distance outside; and all three stripped for a swim, to find some deeper water ; but not 
being able to get the boat much nearer, we made her fast and carried our traps on shore, getting 
almost devoured by mosquitoes in so doing. We had heard that there was a rough log-hut 
somewhere on the island, built by the Karlé peasants, who come annually to take away the 
«« Skand. Faun. Foglarna, ed. 3, i. p. 571.” 
“+ Journal fiir Ornithologie, 1858, p. 307; 1859, pl. 1.” 
44] 
