280 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND, 



deer moss mixed, then a layer of fibrous hairy moss 

 {TJsnea barbata) ; lined inside with coarse grass, 

 but no feathers. The eggs, four or five in number, 

 resemble those of the Sylvia turdoides, nearly as 

 large as those of the common bunting, but shorter, 

 the ground colour pale bluish-white, thickly 

 speckled all over with purple, black, and brown 

 spots, but leaving the ground colour of the egg 

 very visible. They go to nest early in June. It 

 is strange that out of all the Swedish naturalists 

 who have travelled in Lapland no one had dis- 

 covered the nest of this bird ; and as for the fabu- 

 lous prices which are said to have been offered for 

 the egg of the waxwing, I do not believe there is 

 a man in Sweden who would have given 5s. for it, 

 even before it had been well authenticated by Mr. 

 Wooley. The Swedish naturalists in general care 

 very little about eggs ; in fact, they will pay very 

 little in money for a specimen of any kind. I 

 fancy the waxwing is one of those silent birds that 

 take care never to betray the locality of their nest ; 

 and these Lap forests are so interminable that a 

 man may wander mile after mile, and only by 

 chance hit upon the nest of any bird except the 

 very commonest, unless he knows well the habits, 

 of the bird. 



Although Lowenhjelm includes the night-jar 

 (Gaprimulgus Europceus, Lin.; "natskara," Sw.) 



