126 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



many of the other waders do ; he is generally feeding in a marsh a 

 mile off, and if luck should take you into the neighbourhood of the 

 nest, the hen bird will never rise unless either you are about to put 

 your foot on her, or you see her and your eyes meet. Large areas of 

 the hillsides are covered with a mixture of reindeer-moss and other 

 lichens which so closely resemble the colouration of the bird, that even 

 a well-trained eye will fail to detect her in such surroundings. " Oh, 

 but why did you not watch the bird when she went off to feed ? " says 

 some brother ornithologist, full of pleasant memories of his victory 

 over this species in the Scotch hills. The circumstances are rather 

 different ; in Scotland it is often possible with good glasses to watch 

 the bird from the lake to the nest half a mile away ; in Russia how- 

 ever you hear a hen Greenshank rise from a marsh with her usual 

 noisy cries, see her fly over one or two ridges to dive in among the 

 trees, and as the woods are very open, she is probably only taking a 

 short cut to some place beyond. This bird generally selects a position 

 for its nest beside a grey-coloured stone, or between two stones, some- 

 times on the top of a large erratic, or by a piece of grey weathered 

 wood, but always where the bird can see well around her. 



Two Bean-Geese were on the lake— or rather group of tarns — 

 when we arrived, and were so busy looking after Juno they took no 

 notice of her master, and came twice within easy shot. Just beyond 

 the lakes were some high rocks, and here a pair of Ravens had young, 

 partly feathered. The nest was an old one, very well placed under an 

 overhanging rock, which made it difficult of access even with a rope. 

 The old rascals did not like the appearance of the gun, and moved 

 down the valley, thus trespassing on the private grounds of a Rough- 

 legged Buzzard which rose at them. This led us to the nest of the 

 latter, on which the female sat tight while three of us watched her 

 from the other side of the gully ; it was only when I got close to her 

 that she rose, showing five eggs. The nest was inaccessible without a 

 rope, the rope was in Kola town, and the eggs were very poorly 

 marked, so the birds hatched out in safety so far as we were con- 



