62 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Linota linaria. — We never failed to meet with the Mealy 

 Redpoll wherever there was birch or willow cover of any but the 

 most stunted growth. The first nest found, on July 13th, was 

 thickly and warmly lined with feathers (fowls') and willow down. 

 It contained six eggs, which were incubated ; but two others, 

 found the same day, each contained three fresh eggs. Willows 

 seemed to be preferred, and in some cases the nest was only 

 three or four feet from the ground. On July 15th a crowd of 

 tourists from the Hamburg-American liner * Auguste Victoria ' 

 visited the Lapp encampment. In passing through the woods 

 many of them brushed past, and must almost have touched, a 

 Mealy Redpoll's nest, placed shoulder-high in a birch tree beside 

 the track. The five eggs were warm, though the bird was not 

 sitting. At Skjervo, on the 18th, there were many Redpolls 

 about the village, pecking at dandelions, or perched on fences, 

 fish-rails, or path. One or two of the cocks were brilliant little 

 fellows, with blood-red forehead and crimson breast. 



L. flavirostris. — On July 23rd, landing upon an island off 

 Svolvaer, we soon recognized Twites by their note. The locality 

 seemed well suited to this moorland species, for, though there 

 was only a scanty growth of heather, the peat soil was covered 

 with berry-bearing plants — Vaccinium myrtillus and uliginosum, 

 Arctostaphylos alpina, and, in wet spots, JRubus chamcemorus, 

 yielding the luscious moltebaer. 



Fringilla montif ring ilia. — At Tromso one could not walk in 

 any direction beyond the outskirts of the town without hearing 

 the Brambling's drawling note. A nest found just after our first 

 Fieldfares' on July 12th was some eight feet from the ground in 

 the fork of a birch. It was an untidy nest, with Willow Grouse 

 feathers worked into it. The bird fluttered off her four eggs, 

 squealing and tumbling about. The cock bird then appeared; 

 his note was a sharp "kip, kip," which, often heard subsequently, 

 always reminded me of the Meadow-Pipit. Another nest, higher 

 up than the first, was thick-walled and deep, made of moss, bents, 

 and lichen, lined with hair and " rype " feathers. On the 15th 

 the young had just left a nest near the Lapp camp, leaving an 

 addled egg. Both the old birds were much excited. Our last 

 nest, found on the 19th on the far side of the island, had small 

 young ones and an egg, the latter probably hatching. 



