BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 59 



the ground. Hooded Crows had eggs (6-5), and a Merlin had taken 

 possession of another of their nests, but had not laid yet. 



After completing our stores we left Tromso on the 20th and 

 called at some islands where I had taken red eggs of the Herring 

 Gull in 1896. Here I obtained another very handsome red clutch, 

 still unblown, which the proprietor of the islands had just taken from 

 the nest. I believe these to be the third clutch now in my collection 

 from the same pair of birds. Those taken in 1895 and 1896 are 

 alike in colour, and in having one egg of a much deeper tone than 

 the others. The eggs of 1901 are a little lighter red than the pre- 

 vious ones. 



After a somewhat rough and disagreeable voyage we arrived at 

 Vardo late on the 24th. The next morning we woke to find a fierce 

 N.w. gale blowing, with constant snowstorms. Most of the ships 

 crews were busy putting out extra stay-ropes to prevent collisions 

 and other damage. We heard that no ships had yet been able to 

 reach Archangel, as the ice was late in breaking up this year. Snow- 

 Buntings were still in flocks here ; only one pair looked like commenc- 

 ing to build. Many Shore-Larks were feeding on the manure heaps 

 and other spots free from snow ; a few Meadow-Pipits and one White 

 Wagtail had also arrived. 



On the 26th the gale and snowstorms continued, the former so 

 severe one steamer broke from her moorings. A mature Glaucous 

 Gull Larus Glaucus settled on the water close to the Exprcs, the first 

 of this species I remember to have positively identified at Vardo. 



May 2^111, Whit Monday. — All the shops in Vardo were closed 

 except the chemists', and the day was observed as a general holiday. 

 It is quite as hopeless to expect any work to be done in Norway on 

 such days as it is in England. We noticed a large steady stream of 

 people making for the church, and learnt that the minister was to 

 preach his farewell sermon, after twenty years' service here. As he is 

 over eighty years of age, he is retiring on a pension. 



The storm seemed to have exhausted itself, so we left Vardo soon 



