AN ORNITHOLOGICAL TOUR IN NORWAY. 445 



Tardus pilaris. — We found pairs of birds and nests here and 

 there in the birch-woods in various parts of the island ; but for 

 the most part the birds breed in colonies, though these sometimes 

 consist of only a few scattered pairs. The first nest I saw, on 

 the 13th, was some twenty feet up in a slender birch, against the 

 trunk in the fork of the branches ; the bird flew off, though some- 

 times they sit close, and on the 20th a Fieldfare, though she could 

 see me, only came off the nest (with a great fuss and chatter) when 

 I touched her tail with my umbrella. On the 14th I found a nest 

 at the north end of the island, where the trees were small, in the 

 fork of a low birch not more than two or three feet from the 

 ground ; but I never saw another nest on Trouud at anything like 

 so low an elevation. It was formed of two or three heather twigs, 

 a little long grey lichen in the foundation, and a quantity of dead 

 grass, and was well lined with mud mixed with vegetable substance, 

 and then a very thick inner lining (half to three-quarters of an 

 inch thick) of dead grass. The bird came off (between 3 and 4 

 p.m.), but had not then laid. On the 16th we saw a considerable 

 colony on Tromso, with nests in slender birches about fifteen feet 

 up. This was near the edge of the woods close to some clearings, 

 a position always preferred by the birds on account of facilities 

 for feeding. The largest colony we visited was on the mainland, 

 in the Tromsdal. Here we saw about fifty nests, chiefly about 

 fifteen or twenty feet up in slender birches of about thirty feet in 

 height ; but some nests in lower trees were not more than ten or 

 twelve feet from the ground. The nest is almost always (in a 

 normal tree) placed in the main fork of the branches from the 

 trunk. Of the nests I got up to, some were still empty, three had 

 eggs — four, five, and six (the last "hard sat") — and one young birds, 

 four or five days old. All the nests had very thick inner linings 

 of grass, from half to three-quarters of an inch thick within the 

 mud, and in some cases a thin layer of mud divided from 

 the mud lining by a stratum of grass. One egg in each nest 

 differed from the rest of the clutch, being boldly spotted on 

 a clear ground-colour. Some birds sat so closely that twice 

 I touched one with a long stick before it would leave the nest. 

 They are brave, too, and attacked a Grey Crow, and also, but less 

 persistently, a Merlin. Fieldfares are very noisy when you invade 

 their colony, but do not mob you, and soon withdraw to a little 

 distance, that is to say, the individual pairs whose nests are closely 



