32 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



first opportunity we had had of watching these birds at close quarters. 

 Several Red-necked Phalaropes were generally on the pool, and when 

 all was quiet, souse would come some old Eider or Velvet Scoter into 

 it ; but these never cared to remain long near our tent, however peace- 

 ful it looked. I may say here that no gun was fired during our 

 visit. 



A large part of the island in the neighbourhood of the lake is 

 covered with great tussocks or mounds of coarse glaucous green 

 grass (see Plate 1 1 ), many of these being five or six feet high, 

 exclusive of the live grass on the top ; the angelica covers two feet 

 of the bases in the illustration, and largely destroys the effect. These 

 mounds appear to be the remains of many generations of grass ; they 

 are almost entirely composed of vegetable mould and fibre ; in fact, 

 there is no sand to build up mounds round this grass as in some 

 parts of the English coast. They afforded admirable nesting ground 

 for several species of birds ; Common Gulls often occupied the tops, 

 while Lapland Buntings and Meadow-Pipits found good shelter in 

 the sides, and several Mergansers had nests in holes near the bottom. 

 After some little trouble we found a Turnstone's nest with four eggs 

 in the side of one of these tussocks. These birds are often so 

 difficult to watch to their nest, there is a real pleasure in beating 

 them ; and their handsome eggs vary sufficiently to make a good 

 series a desideratum. Arctic Terns were now nesting in thousands 

 in all directions — on the wet sphagnum-moss in the marshes, on the 

 crowberry covering the higher ground, and among the shingle of the 

 shore ; so that when it is remembered the island measures four miles 

 each way, and that no part was really free from breeding birds, 

 although they were certainly much thicker in some places than 

 others, it will be clear that " thousands " is not an exaggeration. 

 And the noise they made ! It was often impossible to pick out the 

 notes of other species. Restless little creatures, they seemed to be 

 never still for more than a minute or two, even when incubating. I 

 was much impressed during this visit by a fact which has been recently 



