A WALK ACBOSS LAPLAND. 499 



On Aug. 6th we climbed above the forest growth, and walked 

 over the open fjeld, where the ground is partly covered with 

 dwarf birch, and there are many lakes and swamps. Here were 

 Redshanks, Totanus calidris, and Greenshanks, T. canescens, and 

 other waders we were unable to identify. Golden Plovers, Cham- 

 drius pluvialis, were numerous, and their very melancholy whistle 

 could be heard throughout almost all that country. We had the 

 delight, too, of seeing Dotterels, Endromias morinellus, and three 

 young birds in down. Not far from them was a Shore Lark, 

 Otocorys alpestris, which seemed rather shy, and ran along the 

 ground in front of us ; we saw one more on the next day. 



In the evening, at the stooe Suoluobme, a Wood Sandpiper, 

 Totanus glareola, was shot. About the farms and hay-huts 

 there was generally a crowd of Snow Buntings, Plectrophenax 

 nivalis, so tame that they would run on the ground close to our 

 feet. They were a pleasing substitute for the House Sparrow, a 

 bird we did not see until we were thirty miles south of Kittila. 

 Bluethroats, Cyanecula suecica, were very abundant where there 

 were any bushes in damp places. A colony of Sand Martins, 

 Cotile riparia, nested in a steep bank of the Alten river. 



On a small pool of shallow water at Kautokeino we found 

 three Grey Phalaropes, Phalaropus fulicarius, swimming with a 

 buoyancy which was beautiful to see ; while at the same time 

 there were standing at the edge of the water a Ringed Plover, 

 JEgialitis hiaticula, a Temminck's Stint, Tringa temmincki, and 

 a Ruff, Machetes pugnax. 



At Sieppa, a small Lapp settlement near the Finnish frontier, 

 were hosts of House Martins, Chelidon urbica. The Lapps and 

 Finns give these birds a warm welcome, and put up ledges under 

 the eaves of their wooden houses, on which the Martins build 

 their nests as closely together as they can be packed. Round 

 each small farmhouse the birds could be seen in hundreds busily 

 feeding young in the nests. These wooden houses, usually several 

 miles apart, seem to be the only suitable nesting places for 

 House Martins in the country. After leaving Sieppa, just before 

 crossing the watershed, we came upon a flock of Whimbrels, 

 Numenius phceopus. 



For almost all the rest of the walk we were in forest, and 

 here most noticeable was the absence of the Great Black Wood- 



