471 



We picked up some broken egg-shells, and concluded at once that the bird had young. We 

 tried to find them, but in vain. These two hours, however, were not wasted. The birds came 

 nearer to me than they had ever done before. I often watched them at a distance of not more 

 than ten yards, and was able to hear their notes more distinctly. The note most frequently used 

 is a single plaintive whistle, kop, long drawn out, the o pronounced as in German, and the con- 

 sonants scarcely sounded. This I am almost sure is the alarm-note. It is principally uttered 

 by the female when she stops and looks round and sees something that she disapproves of. If 

 the male shows any anxiety about the nest, which he seems to do more and more as incubation 

 progresses, he also utters the same note. The double note, kl-'ee or Meep, the kl dwelt upon so 

 as to give it the value of a separate syllable, is also uttered by both birds. It is evidently their 

 call-note. I have seen the female, when she has been running away from the male, turn sharp 

 round and look towards him when he has uttered this note, exactly as any one might do who 

 heard his name called. Whilst we were watching this pair of birds a couple of other Grey 

 Plovers came up, and called as they flew past. The male answered the call and flew towards 

 them. On the wing this whistle is lengthened out to three notes. I had some difficulty in 

 catching this note exactly. It is not so often uttered as the two others I have mentioned, and 

 is generally heard when you least expect it ; but I am almost sure it is a combination of the 

 alarm-note with the call-note — kl-ee-kop. If I wanted to make a free translation from Ploverski 

 into English, I should say that kl-ee means ' Hallo ! old fellow,' and kop means ' Mind what you 

 are about.' 



" We procured our tenth nest of the Grey Plover the same afternoon. It was found by our 

 Samoyede, who brought us three eggs and male and female shot at the nest. He accidentally 

 broke the fourth egg. As it contained a live young bird, we placed these three eggs in our 

 hatching-basket, where we had made a snug nest of Bean-Goose-down. 



" By this time we were pretty well tired with tramping the tundra. The ceaseless perse- 

 cution of the mosquitoes, and the stifling feeling caused by having to wear a veil with the 

 thermometer above summer heat, had taxed our powers of endurance almost to the utmost ; and 

 we turned our faces resolutely towards our boat ; but a most anxious pair of Grey Plovers were 

 too great an attraction to us to be resisted. We watched them for some time, during which a pair 

 of Ringed Dotterels persisted in obtruding themselves impertinently between us and the objects 

 of our attention. This pair of Grey Plovers also puzzled us ; and we concluded that they possibly 

 had young, and consequently we gave up the search. We had each marked a place where we 

 thought the nest might be ; and we each of us went to satisfy ourselves that it was not there. 

 The two places were about fifty yards apart. The birds first went up to Harvie-Brown and tried 

 to attract him away by flying about and feigning lameness. Then they came to me and did the 

 same. They were so demonstrative that I felt perfectly certain of finding the nest, and shot at 

 the female. She dropped in the middle of a wet bog. I then shot the male, walked up to him, 

 and left him with my basket and gun to struggle through the bog to pick up the female. 

 Before I got up to her, I saw her lying on the turf on her breast with her wings slightly 

 expanded. I was just preparing to stoop to pick her up, when she rose and flew away, appa- 

 rently unhurt. I must have missed her altogether, as she was evidently only shamming to draw 

 me away. I returned to search for the nest, and was unable to find it. Whilst I was looking 



