A NATURALIST'S RAMBLK IV SWEDISH LAPLAND. 83 



houses have convenient eaves for their nesting. In an uninhabited 

 country like this, where the Lapp "hjorte" affords no accommoda- 

 tion to the birds, they must necessarily be very crowded for 

 nesting room. 



Aug. 19th. We proceeded on our journey down the Vindel 

 Elv, shooting several rapids and carrying over others. Birds 

 seen on the way were a great many Wigeon and Teal, Sandpipers, 

 a Ring Ouzel, a pair of Tufted Ducks, a Greenshank, a Buzzard, 

 and high up above the rapids, where at mid-day we stopped to 

 fish, an Eagle. Here, under the eaves of a house, I counted no 

 less than forty-seven House Martins* nests, whose occupants 

 seemed to be employed in mobbing a Kestrel. A fresh egg lay 

 broken on the ground below. We now walked a few miles to the 

 great Vindel Lake, where we saw over thirty Ducks and many 

 Fieldfares in the fir-woods. A long row in the chilly evening 

 brought us to the Swedish house of a wealthy Lapp who had 

 "retired." The northern lights were very fine as we went in. 

 The gentleman had just been taking up his fishing-nets; amongst 

 the catch were Perch, Roach, Jack, Gwyniad, and Turbot. Perch- 

 skins are dried and used for clearing the coffee in Sweden. After 

 much mock-ceremony we retired to the state-room of the house, 

 and woke next morning (Aug. 23rd) to attempt a breakfast off 

 rancid roach, and high exceedingly hard and dry reindeer-flesh. 

 We saw Magpies here for the first time. A walk over the table- 

 land between two river- valleys gave us some fine "multer" or 

 cloud-berries, and also a sight of two Cranes, which rose in the 

 distance from a marshy pool, and flew slowly off, making a harsh 

 trumpeting noise. We also saw a Great Grey Shrike, Lanius 

 excubitor pursuing two Fieldfares, two Buzzards, and three 

 Siberian Jays — birds whose flight and gait proclaimed them to 

 be of the Jay tribe, though their plumage would lead one to 

 suppose otherwise. I saw a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and the 

 only Owl seen the whole time, at our sleeping place for the night. 



Next morning we started for a walk through monotonous and 

 uninteresting fir-woods. The path was exceedingly hard to find 

 in places — in fact, there was really no path at all. We put up a 

 hen Capercailzie, that was sitting on a fir tree ; she flew to the 

 ground and ran off very quickly. Only one Ryper was seen, but 

 as we descended a slight hill, a doe Reindeer with her two fawns 

 came trotting quietly through the forest right up to the path ; on 



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