BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 55 



trouble by letting us go or making us stay so upset him that great 

 beads of perspiration stood on his forehead. Fortunately, on our 

 arrival at Vardo I found M. V. Beresnikoff, the Russian Consul-General 

 for North Norway, there, with whom we had travelled north from 

 Throndhjem ; and he undertook at once most kindly to have a short 

 account I had written, explaining the origin of the fire, translated 

 into Russian, copies to be sent to the Father Superior and the Head 

 of the Woods and Forests Department. A few weeks after my return 

 to England, I received a letter from M. Beresnikoff saying the damage 

 caused by the fire had been assessed at 9 roubles, 85 copecks, less 

 than a pound. A happy ending to what at one time threatened 

 to be a very disagreeable incident ; and due largely, no doubt, to a 

 heavy storm of rain we saw falling over the district as we left the 

 monastery. 



July 1 2ith. — On our way to Vardo we stopped at Great Heno for 

 a couple of hours to have a last look at the island. We were much 

 surprised to find the whole of the Terns had left ; it seemed scarcely 

 possible that all the young had been hatched and had flown since 

 the 28th ult., when there were large numbers of fresh eggs, and no 

 young in down to be seen. The only alternative explanation is that 

 their eggs had been collected wholesale after we left, and the birds 

 had given up the attempt to breed this year. 



The island had now assumed its summer garb ; large masses of 

 marsh marigold round the lake reached up to our knees, while acres 

 of drier land were covered with the beautiful yellow Trollius, a small 

 piece of which is illustrated on Plate 22. Flowers of tall habit are 

 most difficult to photograph in the north ; when it is fine and sunny 

 there is almost invariably wind, which keeps them in constant 

 motion. A clear day without wind comes perhaps once in the 

 season, and then probably there are no flowers near to photograph ! 



Ferns grew plentifully in the damper hollows, and the Angelica 

 had reoccupied all its ground with rank luxuriant foliage that came 

 up to our waists. But when it is realised what a heavy dressing 



