lOO BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



a number of Red-throated Pipits'. The second and third were on the 

 sand-bar near the driftwood. 



June 2^th. — Although we were up at lo a.m., packing eggs, 

 photographs, and camp duties kept us busy till dinner, after which 

 we started up the south side of the river. A Temminck's Stint came 

 close to Hetley five or six times while he was blowing its eggs ; a very 

 unusual circumstance, as this species is much wilder at the nest than 

 the Little Stint. It was here I photographed the fox-trap shown in 

 Plate 40. The fox comes prowling round the deserted Samoyed en- 

 campment during the winter in search of offal ; smells " fish," and 

 enters the tunnel where he finds a delightful trout's head attached to 

 a figure of four ; and when he appropriates the fish the upper plank 

 falls. I was surprised that the weight of the plank was sufficient to 

 kill him, but suppose this must be so because none of the planks were 

 weighted. While crossing a stretch of liquid mud, mixed with frag- 

 ments of the bluff above, a White Wagtail fluttered out from under a 

 lump of the sliding bank, just in front of Hetley who was last in the 

 line ; and its large nest of moss, twigs, and grass, lined with reindeer 

 hair and feathers, contained five fresh eggs. The bird was probably 

 young and inexperienced, or such a site would never have been chosen ; 

 for it seemed almost certain that the nest would be buried under the 

 moving mud before the young ones could leave it. Then we came 

 upon two Redwings' nests in the sallow bushes, each with six young ; 

 the second contained also an infertile Qgg. Six appears to be the usual 

 full clutch for both this species and Fieldfares ; and though I have 

 occasionally found seven eggs I have never noted seven young in a 

 nest. 



We had now penetrated to a part of the valley beyond that occu- 

 pied by the drift deposits previously described ; and while crossing a 

 damp area covered with hummocks of all sizes, Hetley called me to 

 see four eggs of a light green colour heavily blotched with dark 

 brown, eggs that I had never seen in situ before. The nest was a 

 slight one of grass, and placed on a hummock two feet high, but so 



