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all more or less expressive ; and in my drives about Finland and into Norway during the winter I 

 had heard from so many quarters accounts of its nesting-peculiarities, that I only waited for its 

 return here to see them confirmed. It does not keep one long in suspense. It comes as soon as 

 the snow is off the ground, and lays its eggs with very little delay. At this time one may hear 

 a singular call in the marshes, which the Finns express by the sound reevat, corresponding to a 

 word in their language meaning an evil spirit ; and one of the names of the bird is taken from it 

 — a name always spoken with a spiteful emphasis by Reindeer-stalkers; for this 'Rivattu' is as 

 mischievous to them as a Grey Crow is to a Highland forester, or a Gull to a seal-shooter. But 

 the cry with which it spoils their sport is tjeuty ; and from this another name is derived, generally 

 coupled with the distinctive epithet corresponding to black, or with one meaning burnt wood ; but 

 whether this last is taken from the colour of the bird, or from a common place of resort for it, or 

 from both, I am not sure. Certain it is that this black bird not unfrequently lays its eggs in 

 a part of the forest which has formerly been burnt ; and here is one of its most unexpected 

 singularities — a marsh-bird choosing the driest possible situation, even hills of considerable 

 height, and covered with forest-timber. I have myself seen two nests so placed ; and one of them 

 at least was on ground which, from the charred wood lying about, had evidently been burnt at 

 some former period. They were nearly at the top of long hills, many hundreds of yards from 

 any marshy places, good-sized fir trees on all sides ; but they were not in the thickest parts 

 of the forests, and the vegetation on the ground about was very scanty, diminutive heather 

 and such like plants growing thinly amongst reindeer lichen in slight depressions on the 

 ground — placed near some little ancient logs, so nearly buried, however, as to afford no 

 shelter, the bedding only a few dry leaves of the Scotch fir. The bird sits sometimes so close 

 that one is tempted to try to catch it in the hand, its white back conspicuous as it crouches 

 with its neck drawn in. It either gets up direct or runs a short way before it rises; and 

 then it flies round with an occasional tjeuty, or stands upon the top of a neighbouring tree, 

 showing the full length of its slender legs, neck, and bill. But it is not till it has young that all 

 its powers of eloquence are fully brought into play : it then comes far to meet any intruder, 

 floating over him with a clear cry that echoes through the forest, or that is heard over a great 

 extent of marsh, or it stands very near one, bowing its head, opening its beak quite wide in the 

 energy of its gesticulations. The eggs, four in number, are of a rich green ground-colour when 

 fresh, or sometimes of a bright brown. This year they were laid hereabouts at the end of May. 

 The young are probably carried into marshy land as soon as they are hatched ; for there they are 

 whilst they are still very small. I am told that dry mounds rising out of swamps are sometimes 

 chosen as breediug-places. The nests I have described were found quite by good luck, stumbled 

 upon in walking through the forest, where the bird is scattered usually at rather wide intervals ; 

 one may see two or three pairs in the course of a long day's walk. It is so wary that I have 

 never succeeded in watching it to its nest." To the above very full account of the nidification of 

 this Sandpiper I can add but little. Mr. Meves, from whom I have received many eggs of this 

 species, informs me that they are usually placed in some open place in the forest, and describes 

 a nest from Kyro as being merely a depression in a tussock which is overgrown with moss, 

 lichens, and blueberry plants ; the inside of the nest is lined with leaves. 



The eggs of the Spotted Redshank, of which I possess a series of twenty, collected in 



