122 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



land as long as possible, though they can swim long distances in quiet 

 water. 



On the 1 9th we again crossed the Kola river, and struck over the 

 ridge into another valley, but saw little of interest beyond some more 

 old nests of the Pine-Grosbeak. The snow was up to our knees in 

 many places, and the little streams were so swollen that we were con- 

 stantly stopped by them. Most of the birds we saw on the low ground 

 yesterday were gone to-day, only a few Redwings being visible. New 

 records for the day were Meadow-Pipit, White Wagtail, Raven, Sea- 

 Eagle, Gyr-Falcon Falco gyrfalco, Golden Plover, and Common Scoter, 

 the two last being common. 



On the 20th we saw Pintail, Teal, and Long-tailed Ducks, and two 

 pairs of Oyster-catchers. These last were flying down the Tuloma 

 valley at a considerable height, and did not stop on the shingle beds 

 at Kola, but passed on to the open coast. To-day we took a boat up 

 the Tuloma, the finest river I have yet seen in Russian Lapland. 

 Whooper Swans are common here at this time of the year, as we saw 

 flocks of seven and four, besides odd birds. The natives say they come 

 in April, and stop on the river until the early part of June when they 

 disappear. We saw none in the districts we afterwards visited, al- 

 though we heard that a Finn had brought a number of their eggs 

 from the country about the higher waters of the Tuloma two years 

 before ; but our informant knew no exact details. The flock of Bar- 

 tailed Godwits was still on the mud-flats to-day, but the Greenshanks 

 had gone up to the hills where we saw them yesterday. After rowing 

 some three miles we landed under a steep bluff, and soon heard the cry 

 of a Buzzard, which showed that we were not far from its nest. A long 

 struggle through heavy snowdrifts to the top of the hill was rewarded 

 by our finding the nest on a projecting point of rock about thirty feet 

 below the edge of the cliff, 150 feet high and practically perpendicular. 

 The nest was quite inaccessible without a rope, and all we could do 

 was to gaze down on the treasure it contained, a well-marked clutch of 

 six eggs. The nest itself had evidently been occupied for many years. 



