BIRDS ON THK MUONIO RIVER. 327 



the top, which was covered with nests. Most of the eggs were 

 somewhat incubated. On our way down from this colony 

 we disturbed a hen "Hyper" (Lagopus albus) from her nest 

 under a rock. The nest, which was artfully concealed by a 

 curtain of trailing plants which hung down from the rock above, 

 contained ten incubated eggs, very much like those of our Bed 

 Grouse, but slightly smaller. On a pebbly beach at the foot of 

 the hill we found a nest of the Oyster- catcher (FIcematopus ostra- 

 legus) containing two eggs. 



Skibotten, our destination on the Lyngen Fjord, was reached 

 on the evening of June 26th, and we at once began our march 

 towards the frontier, following the little Salmon River which falls 

 into the fjord here. Yellow-hammers and Blackcaps were both 

 seen and heard joining with the Redwings, Bramblings, and 

 Mealy Redpolls in the general bird-chorus which began at 1 a.m. 

 Higher up the valley we fell in with Blue-headed Yellow Wagtails, 

 Bluethroats, and Rough-legged Buzzards ; also with mosquitoes, 

 that did not cease to remind us of their presence until we 

 returned to Skibotten twenty-eight days later. 



At Helligskoven, a little mountain hut occupied by a Finn 

 with a Lapp wife, we rested for twenty-four hours. Here we 

 found a nest of the Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail in a hole at the 

 foot of a birch, with well-fledged young. There was also an 

 addled egg, which resembled almost exactly the egg of the Yellow 

 Wagtail. On comparing it with specimens of the latter at home 

 it was impossible to distinguish between them. Here we saw and 

 shot a specimen of the Northern Black-bellied Dipper : we did 

 not see a single bird of this species after crossing the frontier. 

 We crossed into Russian Finland on June 28th, and rested in an 

 unoccupied shelter on the shores of Kilpis-jarvi, the lake from 

 which the Muonio takes its rise. In the willow-scrub near the 

 house Bluethroats, Lapland Buntings, and Red-throated Pipits 

 were very numerous ; we found a nest of the latter in the side of 

 a grass tussock, containing four incubated eggs. 



As it would be an endless task to enumerate the birds seen 

 each day, it will be more convenient to give a general summary 

 of the observations made during the month spent between Finland 

 and Sweden ; a river separating the two countries, we were con- 

 stantly passing to and fro, and it is therefore unnecessary to 

 make any more marked distinction between them. 



