BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 17 



songs and calls of birds, while the sea was so calm that the reflection 

 of the hills was almost as clear as the reality above. 



June 14th was spent in exploring the Triphona river, but the 

 snow was so deep and soft that we scarcely walked a mile up its 

 course. The state of the country will be best realised from Plate 6, 

 which represents the river where it is affected by the tide ; the stream 

 above is impassable by boats, being little more than a large brook. 

 Near the mouth of the river were some cottages, surrounded by en- 

 closed grass land which had been well manured recently. It is on such 

 spots as this that all the small birds are to be found in backward 

 seasons like that of 1899. Red-spotted Blue- throats Cyanecula suecica, 

 Temminck's Stints Tringa tcmmincki, and Willow Wrens Phylloscopus 

 trochilus, were common ; and White Wagtails, Meadow-Pipits, Red- 

 shanks, Golden Plover Charadrius pluvialis, and Whimbrel Numenms 

 'phceopus were seen, while a Cuckoo Cuculus canorits was only heard. 

 About a mile from the houses we found a Hooded Crow's nest in a 

 birch tree ; and had the satisfaction of poking out three young with 

 quill-feathers just showing. I never spare the nest of this bird, for, 

 as in the case of our House-Sparrow, it is difficult to find much 

 evidence of its usefulness. The lining of the nest was made of rein- 

 deer-hair felted together, quite two inches thick, and forming a warm 

 bed for the little rascals. Divers — frozen out from the lakes — and 

 Long-tailed Ducks were very plentiful on the fjord; and their cries 

 were so noisy at times during the night that there might almost have 

 been a football match in the distance ! 



Jime isth. — A halo round the sun yesterday, rain to-day. A 

 solar halo is even a surer forecast of bad weather than a lunar one, as 

 I have unfortunately often proved. We rowed up to the head of 

 the fjord, and attempted to make our way up the river, but it was 

 covered with heavy ice, and obliged us to land at a small village. 

 The principal building here belongs to the monastery, and forms a 

 house of rest for the monks when arriving or departing by sea. 

 Round the house are stables, carriage-houses, and a warehouse filled 



B 



