ARCTIC BLUE-THROxVTED ROBIN. 273 



Lapland and the tundras of Siberia are not level. The peat is imper- 

 vious to water; and there is a constant struggle going on between the 

 rich and rank vegetation -^vhich establishes itself there and the water 

 which lies on the flat places and is always running down the slopes when 

 the snow melts. The tundra is seldom smooth like a common, but is 

 generally a cluster of little hummocks or mounds covered over with rushes 

 carices, cloudberry, and other ground fruits, with sometimes a stunted 

 birch or willow scarcely higher than the coarse grass. These hummocks 

 are the favourite breeding-places of the Arctic Blucthroat. I have 

 generally found the nest well concealed in a snug hole on the side of one 

 of these hummocks, just such a place as a Robin would choose in such 

 a locality. 



The nest is not unlike that of a Robin. The hole is well filled m ith 

 dry grass and roots, and at the far end a neat deep cup is formed lined 

 with fine roots and hair. It is almost impossible to find the nest, except 

 by accidentally frightening off the bird, and even then it often takes some 

 time, so carefully is it concealed. The eggs are from five to six in 

 number, and are laid about the middle of June. They are greenish blue, 

 more or less distinctly marbled with pale reddish brown, and are very 

 similar to the eggs of the Nightingale. They may be described as 

 miniature eggs of the Redwing. They measure from '8 to 'GO inch 

 in length, and from '56 to "53 inch in breadth. 



The food of the Arctic Blucthroat is partly vegetable and partly 

 animal. A lover of low and swampy districts — marshy grounds studded 

 with willow clumps, and wet meadows, it obtains earth-worms in 

 abundance, also various kinds of insects and their larvae, its principal 

 food during the breeding-season being undoubtedly mosquitoes. It also 

 eats small seeds of various kinds. Like the Robin, the Redstart, and 

 other nearly allied birds, the Arctic Bluethroat obtains much of its 

 insect food when hovering in the air in a similar manner to the Fly- 

 catchers ; and when searching amongst withered leaves or moss upon 

 the ground, its actions are almost precisely the same as those of the 

 Robin or the Hedge-Accentor. 



The Arctic Bluethroat has the whole of the upper parts uniform brown, 

 except a white or pale buff' streak over the eye from the base of the bill 

 backwards, and the tail, which is blackish brown with the basal half bright 

 chestnut, except the two centre feathers, which are uniform brown. The 

 chin, cheeks, throat, and upper breast are metallic cobalt-blue, with a large 

 chestnut spot in the centre of the lower throat; below the blue is a band of 

 black, and below that the chestnut reappears in a broad band across the 

 lower breast, the rest of the underparts being huffish white. Bill black ; 

 legs, feet, claws, and irides dark brown. The female is not so showy as 

 the male, simply having a dark-brown band across the chest ; but some- 



VOL. I. T 



