28 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



from its proper element, so we decided to borrow the Finn's till 

 next high tide. After a rather exciting time of sticking fast on 

 sand-bars, shooting rapids, &c., we at last reached the ship at 

 1 1.30 p.m. 



June 2 2,rd. — As we landed on the west bank to-day three White- 

 tailed Eagles rose off the hill above us, and I saw at once the nest on 

 the face of the cliff, but after climbing to a point forty feet above the 

 nest it proved to be empty. There were far fewer birds on this side 

 of the river. A pair of Willow-Grouse rose six feet off, and both of 

 the birds were in much more advanced plumage than those seen on 

 the Ribatchi peninsula ; the red on the cock bird extending over most 

 of his back, while the only white visible on the female, as she flew off, 

 was on the wing-tips. 



After lunch we crossed to the east side to visit the Finn. His 

 eldest boy had shown us a nest yesterday which he had removed two 

 or three days before, when spreading manure. He had taken only the 

 inner lining and placed it in a piece of short grass beside a little 

 mound, where it lay quite exposed, yet the bird had followed it some 

 yards and laid two more eggs. To-day I shot the bird as it left, 

 a Red-throated Pipit, and saw she had laid a sixth eg'g. Going on 

 to the wood visited yesterday, we found the nest of a Redstart 

 Ruticilla phmiiicttrus, containing six eggs, and shot the female ; the nest 

 was placed on the top of a rotten birch, and was made of moss and 

 fine grass, lined with a few feathers. We also shot to-day the first 

 Brambling Fringilla montifringilla (a male) we had seen this year ; 

 also a young Siberian Jay Perisoreus infaustus, the remainder of the 

 family to whom the latter belonged being scattered through the wood. 

 This species generally nests in April, when the country is inaccessible 

 except on ski. Both old and young Siberian Jays are endowed with 

 an unlimited supply of curiosity, but very little shyness ; I remember 

 a family once in Norway spending half-an-hour in the trees within 

 a few yards of my wife, apparently deeply interested in her knitting, 

 and keeping up a constant chatter. Many of the trees here had been 



