AN ORNITHOLOGICAL TOUR IN NORWAY. 449 



slate-grey mixed with black; the feathers from the base of the beak 

 to the eye, over the eye, and on the ear-coverts are black. An 

 indistinct dusky crescent, caused by the presence of black and 

 blackish feathers on the breast, is sometimes apparent. This is a 

 very different looking bird in life from the Mediterranean Budytes 

 cinereo-capilla, which, with the exception of its darker ear-coverts 

 and the small size, or absence, of the white eye-stripe, hardly differs 

 on the upper parts from B.flava. 



Anthus pratensis. — After the Willow Wren, this was the com- 

 monest bird on Tromso. It was common on Grindo, and we saw 

 some in the barer parts of the Tromsdal before reaching the 

 snow-fields at the upper end, and a few on the top of the Floifjeld. 

 They constantly perch on willows and birches ; and they sing in 

 this position the sitting song, " twee twee twee twee " or " chee 

 chee chee chee." 



A. cervinus. — Not at all common on Tromso, but I met with a 

 few in the bogs, and one near the lake. On Grindo I saw two or 

 three, including one with a very fine red throat and upper breast. 

 At this season the Red-throated Pipit is a very dark-coloured 

 bird, and looks quite blackish-brown on the back at a little 

 distance. The call-note is louder and fuller than that of A. 

 pratensis. It was some time before I could make out the song 

 satisfactorily, though on the first visit I paid to the bogs I heard 

 the song of a Pipit which was new to me. The song is less rapid, 

 fuller, and more musical and melodious than that of A . pratensis ; 

 some of the notes even approach those of the Tree Pipit pretty 

 closely. On Grindo a boy took me to a nest which I believe 

 belonged to this species, but the bird was not on, nor when 

 I went back to it later ; but I saw a Red-throated Pipit sitting in 

 a birch close to the nest. The nest was placed in a raised clump 

 of Empetrum nigrum ; it was formed of dry, fine grass, lined with 

 the same and a very little hair, and contained six eggs, mostly 

 with hair-like dark lines about them. 



A. obscurus rupestris. — I saw a pair on Grindo, on a rocky 

 shore. They were grey birds, especially as to the head ; the 

 ground colour of the under parts approached white, and the 

 under parts were well marked, the markings showing distinctly. 

 I had a good view also of a pair some way up the Tromsdal, and 

 at some little distance from the coast of the fjord. They were on 

 the banks of the river, which just there are high and rocky, with 



