352 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



colour stone yellow-green, dashed all over with 

 dark brown and pale purple-grey, especially at the 

 thick end. I observed as soon as the young were 

 hatched off, the old birds would lead them down 

 to some grassy swamp in the forest, and I have 

 met with three or four families in the same spot. 

 It is now that the wild cry of this bird is heard to 

 perfection if you enter the swamp with a dog ; and 

 it is a pleasing sight to see how little fear the old 

 birds display in endeavouring to beat the intruder 

 from the spot. No trying to allure him away by 

 sham pretences, as the lapwing and many other 

 birds do, but a downright courageous attack, 

 which never ceases till the dog is fairly beaten oif. 

 I have often seen the greenshank settle in a tree. 



The wood sandpiper {Totanus glareola, Tern. ; 

 "gronbent snappa," Sw.; "utsea tschoavtscho," 

 Lap.) was very common here; and far different are 

 * the quiet unobtrusive habits of this little bird 

 during the breeding season, to the boisterous, 

 noisy behaviour of its congener, the green sand- 

 piper. Early in the summer the wood sandpiper 

 has a new pretty little song, which it trills out 

 when seated on a tussock of grass or when 

 rising in the air in the vicinity of the nest. I 

 have much oftener seen this bird seated on a tree 

 or a rail than the green sandpiper, although that 

 bird will occasionally perch. 



