BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 97 



I picked up a dead bird near the tents of a species I certainly did 

 not expect to meet with here, viz., a Tree Sparrow Passer montanus. 

 It had been dead some time, as the flesh was dried up and the 

 intestines &c. had been eaten by insects. Probably the bird had 

 been driven out of its course by a gale. 



June 22nd. — Two Ravens passed over camp this morning. After 

 clearing away the eggs and taking some photos we started at 4 p.m. 

 for a ten hours' tramp on the opposite (south) side of the river. 

 Another Temminck's Stint rose from a nest of four eggs, ten yards 

 from the river and close to where we had passed several times 

 yesterday. A little higher up the river than the point shown in 

 the left of Plate 35, a brook entered the main stream at nearly a 

 right angle ; and had cut a deep ravine for itself through the glacial 

 mud. Large pieces of the banks had given way during the late 

 thaw and had carried down parts of a well-worn sledge track. After 

 following this stream for a mile we struck up towards higher land to 

 the south. Two male Willow-Grouse rose from among the scrub, but 

 we saw no hens, so they were probably nesting. After passing the 

 scrub we noted a Buffon's Skua evidently on the look-out ; as we 

 walked towards it another rose quite half a mile ahead ; whereon we 

 promptly sat down and watched the second bird through our glasses, 

 the first standing a hundred yards off to watch us. After a short 

 time No. 2 settled on a ridge, and from its attitude was evidently on 

 the nest ; neither of us could see the bird at all with the naked eye, 

 but taking its bearings carefully we walked up and soon found a 

 handsome clutch of two dark green eggs well marked and slightly 

 incubated. 



Another mile brought us to the highest point, 250 feet above 

 sea, from which we obtained a good view of the country round. 

 We had evidently reached the watershed between our river and the 

 next to the south. An undulating tract lay round us covered with 

 much more stones and sand than the lower parts nearer the river ; 

 but what interested us most was to see two or three lakes below, and 



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