284 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



hour of midnight when all else in nature is at rest. 

 But as soon as the breeding season commences this 

 beautiful song ceases, and is now changed to a kind 

 of call — " Twee, twee, twee, twee, tweet," ending 

 with a little trill. (I fully agree with Morris when 

 he says, " "We have always thought the endeavour- 

 ing to express the notes of birds by syllables a 

 very unsatisfactory method. 5 ') During the season 

 you rarely see the bird, but, hidden in a fir, it 

 utters this monotonous loud call, and as soon as 

 you approach the tree it quietly flies to another. 

 The note was quite new to me, and I was most 

 anxious to find out what bird uttered it ; and I 

 shall not easily forget the trouble I had before I 

 solved the mystery. We took our first nest on 

 May 22. In the autumn, when they migrate 

 down to Wermland, they have a very pretty song 

 early in the morning. 



The ring ouzel (T. torquatus, Lin.; "ring 

 trast," Sw.) was not a common bird here ; but a 

 pair or two were distributed here and at the bot- 

 tom of the fells. "We took two nests — the one 

 from a tree, the other from the ground — as late as 

 July 2. Of all the thrushes, perhaps the wild 

 desultory carol of the ring ouzel is loudest and 

 clearest. 



The water ouzel (Ginclus aquations , Bech. ; 

 " strom starre," Sw. ; " guoikgarek," Lap.) was 



