BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 45 



as I followed them, a Woodpecker flew up, which I shot, and found it 

 to be the three-toed species, Picoides tridactylus. A short search dis- 

 covered a hole in a dead alder with lots of new chips underneath, but 

 alas ! when Charles climbed up to the nest he was greeted with the 

 eager calls of a large family. In another old Woodpecker's hole near 

 was a Redstart's nest with young. We made Ivan understand he 

 was to take us the shortest way back, and he led us through a 

 much more interesting country than that we had passed on our way 

 up. This part must have been well wooded before the monks cut 

 all the best trees down ; we saw hundreds of stumps of Scotch firs 

 12 to 18 inches diameter. One tree had been spared on account 

 of its divided stem ; and in the fork was a Rough-legged Buzzard's 

 nest, a bulky structure of sticks lined with fresh pine shoots, and 

 containing three well-marked eggs (Plate 16). The only other nests 

 found during the day were a Willow- Wren's with seven incubated 

 eggs, a Brambling's with seven too incubated for blowing, and 

 another with four fresh eggs. The bird belonging to the last sat on 

 the nest while I climbed up the thin birch in which it was placed, 

 and pecked my fingers when I tried to feel how many eggs she had. 



July 4th. — We decided to visit Lake Arveden this afternoon, where 

 Ivan had seen the Swan's nest a few years since. This entailed 

 crossing the Buskar river at our '' ferry," and the old tub sank with 

 Einar, dropping him into a swift stream up to his waist. A rough 

 walk of about six miles, during which we crossed two or three swamps, 

 brought us to the lake, a larger sheet of water than that we were en- 

 camped by, and containing some useful-looking islands. On the way 

 there we saw several Redshanks and Snipe ; also, two more Three- 

 toed Woodpeckers, whose nest we failed to find although we felt sure 

 it was near. I shot here a Northern Marsh Tit Farus horcalis, the 

 only Tit seen in this district ; ^ it was a female, and had well-marked 

 incubation spots. Soon after reaching the lake it commenced to rain 

 heavily, so that we were glad to shelter in one of Ivan's numerous huts. 



^ This Tit was wrongly described in the Ibis, 1899, p. 525, as P. camtsc/iat/ccusi!^. 



