BIRDS MET WITH IN EAST FINMABK. 275 



markings of dark brown. While so easy to find by marking the bird, 

 the nest would be next to impossible to discover by merely searching the 

 ground, so well do the eggs harmonise with the moss and dead leaves. 

 We must therefore be accounted specially fortunate in finding another 

 nest, which we did on July 8th, while walking over the fjeld ; one of 

 us nearly trod on the eggs before seeing them. There did not appear 

 to be any bird about, though probably she had only just run off, as the 

 eggs were on the point of hatching. These eggs were of the same type 

 as the first. 



Ringed Plover (jEgialitis hiaticula). — One pair were seen, and were 

 probably breeding, on a shingly point in one of the lower reaches of 

 the river. We did not stop to look for the nest, as we were then 

 poling up stream, and were disinclined to waste time over nests we 

 did not want. They were the only pair seen in the valley. 



Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis), — Fairly common all over the 

 fjeld, and nearly all of them had young. We found them most difficult 

 birds to watch, except from quite a short distance, so well did their 

 plumage match the yellows and greys of the reindeer-moss. Often, 

 when we heard one whistling, it was only by catching a momentary 

 glimpse of the white stripe along the side of the black breast that we 

 could find the bird at all. They were a great nuisance to us on the 

 fjeld, as they seemed to think our only object in coming up there was 

 to find their young ; they would fly all round us, and then settle on a 

 tussock, piping the whole time, and each pair seemed to escort us a 

 mile or more, until it could hand us over to the attentions of its neigh- 

 bours. Several times flocks of six or eight were seen, and were possibly 

 non-breeders, as they did not seem to affect any particular tract of 

 country, though all were in full plumage. On July 4th we found a 

 nest of four eggs, all on the point of hatching. The behaviour of this 

 bird was very different to that of any of the others, rising straight off 

 the nest about thirty yards in front of us ; she flew low and perfectly 

 silently for about three hundred yards, and then settled on a tussock 

 and commenced piping. On July 8th we found a young one about 

 three days old ; we caught sight of it first running on the bare moss, 

 and on this occasion the old birds behaved in a precisely similar way to 

 all the others. 



Snipe (Gallinago sp. ?). — One was seen on June 28th. It was drum- 

 ming over a marsh on the fjeld along way off. 



Common Sandpiper (Totanus hypoleucus). — There were several pairs 

 of these birds nesting at intervals along the banks of the river the 

 whole way up. A nest of three eggs was found by one of the Finns 



