350 A SPEING AND SUMMEE IN LAPLAND. 



breeds further up in the valley of the Munio, from 

 •whence I have received eggs which are consider- 

 ably larger than those of the common redshank, 

 with somewhat the character of the great snipe's 



egg- 



The common sandpiper (Totanus hypoleucos, 



Tern. ; " drill snappa," Sw.) was very common on 

 the lower rivers, but I never met with them on 

 the fells. I shot one specimen of the purple sand- 

 piper (T. onaritima, Brtin; "svart gra strand- 

 vipa," Sw.) early in the spring by the river side; 

 but, as I never saw another, I do not fancy that 

 these fells are the breeding place of this bird, 

 which are very common further north. The red- 

 shank (jP. calidris, Bech. ; "rodbent snappa," 

 Sw.) was very rare. The dunlin (Tringa alpina, 

 Lin.) I could never identify in this district ; and 

 the green sandpiper (Tot. ochropus, Tern.) is 

 certainly a stranger to the north of Scandinavia, 

 although I have received the four eggs of this bird 

 laid in a thrush's nest from as far north as Gefle. 

 It is a curious fact, and one which did not appear 

 to be known to any naturalist until I noticed it, 

 that the green sandpiper, unlike the rest of this 

 tribe, invariably, as far as I can see, lays its four 

 eggs in another bird's nest, generally that of a 

 jay or crow, often a mile from water, and 

 often twenty-five feet up in a fir tree. I never took 



