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the nest, which contained three eggs-. I sat down to pack the eggs ; and Harvie-Brown followed 

 the male, who came up as we found the nest. Whilst I was packing the eggs and warming my 

 hands, and talking pigeon-Kuss with the man, the female came within range, and I took up my 

 gun and shot her. 



" Our seventh and eighth nests of the Grey Plover we took on the 9th of July. We set sail 

 at noon, with a north-east wind, to visit the tundra eight or ten versts higher up the great river. 

 For some distance before we landed the coast was very flat, with willows down to the water's 

 edge. Amongst these dwarf trees we repeatedly heard the Petchora Pipit (Anthus seebohmi) and 

 the Siberian Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus tristis). As soon as we got beyond the willows we landed 

 on the tundra, and started in pursuit of a large flock of Buffon's Skuas, but were soon stopped 

 by a pair of Grey Plovers, which showed by their actions that we were near the nest. We lay 

 down as before, forty or fifty yards apart, and watched the birds. They ran about, up and clown, 

 and all round us ; and at the end of half an hour we were no wiser than at first. There was 

 evidently something wrong. Harvie-Brown then shouted to me, 'Have you marked the nest?' 

 I replied by walking up to him and comparing notes. We then watched together for another 

 half-hour with exactly the same result. I suggested that we must be so near the nest that the 

 bird dare not come on, and advised that we should retreat to the next ridge, which we accord- 

 ingly did. We had not done so many minutes before the female made her way onto the ridge 

 where we had been lying. She then ran along the top of the ridge, passed the place where we 

 had been stationed, and came down the ridge onto the flat bog towards where we then were. 

 I whispered, ' She is actually crossing over to us.' Suddenly she stopped, lifted her wings and 

 settled down on the ground. We both whispered, almost in the same breath, ' She is on the 

 nest.' I added, ' I saw her lift her wings as she settled onto the eggs.' Harvie-Brown replied, 

 'So did I,' and added, ' I can't hold out any longer against the mosquitoes.' I replied, 'I am 

 perfectly satisfied ; she is within range, take her.' Harvie-Brown lifted his gun to his shoulder. 

 She ran off the nest to the top of the ridge and stood there until Harvie-Brown tumbled her 

 over. We then walked up to the nest, the first we had seen on the flat. The eggs were quite 

 fresh, or nearly so ; and the nest must have been made nearly a fortnight later than those we had 

 previously taken. During that time the bogs had become much dryer, so that we could cross 

 them without much difficulty ; and this would probably be the reason why this nest was placed 

 lower down. The eggs had all the appearance of a second laying, being less blotched than usual, 

 one of them remarkably so. It is worth noticing that whilst we were watchiug in our first 

 position, very near the nest, the birds were almost quite silent, and did not call to each other as 

 they usually do. 



" After carefully packing the eggs, we walked on, and speedily started another pair. This 

 time we lay down together, as near as we could tell, on the spot from which the birds rose, 

 which seems to be generally from forty to fifty yards from the nest. The clouds of mosquitoes 

 formed such a mist on the tundra that we had some difficulty in marking our birds ; but by 

 raking the horizon with a binocular, and getting well stung through our veils in the process, we 

 soon found the female, and watched her onto a ridge just opposite to us. She soon settled down ; 

 and within a quarter of an hour after we had lain down we were both perfectly satisfied that she 

 was on the nest. We gave her a few minutes' grace, and then walked up to the nest, without 



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