274 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



over the lake when we first arrived, quacking and somewhat excited. 

 We made sure that they had a nest on the island, but were unable to 

 find it either there or round tbe margin of the lake. We did not see 

 them there again. A single drake flew down the river past our camp 

 one evening. 



Wigeon (Mareca penelope). — On one or two occasions we saw a 

 single Wigeon in the river, and on July 3rd we found near the same 

 place the Duck swimming with her brood of about eight young. We 

 never saw them again. 



Common Teal (Querquedula crecca). — One was seen by a pool near 

 the river, and a feather, probably belonging to a bird of this species, 

 was picked up near another tarn. 



Willow- Grouse (Lagopus albus). — Considering how hard these 

 birds are to put up without a dog, and that at this time of year they 

 were solitary or in pairs, there must have been a very fair sprinkling 

 of them both in the woods and in the scrub on the fjeld. Hardly 

 a day passed without we put up one or more in the course of our 

 rambles. Two nests of seven and ten eggs respectively were brought 

 in by the Finns, and we came across a nest of eleven eggs on July 1st. 

 It was simply a hollow scratched out of tbe dead leaves under a fallen 

 birch, and the hen ran off on our approach with dropping wings and 

 excited duckings ; she ran along in front of us for some distance, and 

 could not be made to fly. All the eggs were considerably incubated. 



Dotterel (Eudromias mormellus). — We came across in all about 

 four pairs of these delightful little birds, scattered in single pairs 

 over a vast expanse of fjeld. One pair which we saw several times at 

 about the same place possibly had young, though they never took 

 much notice of us, and ran about or went to sleep on one leg quite un- 

 concernedly within a few yards of us. Having found one of these 

 birds that is certainly nesting, there is no bird of this group whose 

 nest is easier to find. This was illustrated very well by the first nest 

 we found. On June 26th, while walking over the fjeld, we topped a 

 small rise, and immediately caught sight of a Dotterel running, with 

 drooping wings and head straight out in front, directly away from us 

 at about twenty yards distance. A short search failing to reveal the 

 nest, we retired below the rise again, and almost immediately saw the 

 bird fly back to the point where we had first seen her ; giving her five 

 minutes to settle down, we walked towards the place ; she at once ran 

 off as before, but this time, being able to mark tbe spot more accurately, 

 we were able to find the nest without any difficulty. It was a mere 

 depression in the reindeer-moss, and contained three partially in- 

 cubated eggs ; they were of the light stone-coloured variety, with bold 



