206 



large numbers in the stomach of this individual. These eggs are 

 foimd likewise in the stomaehs of other species that devour the 

 larvæ of insects infesting birchwoods. 



Centrophanes lapp onica, Lin. 



Abundant both in East and West Finmark, more especially on 

 the lo w holms and islands in the Porsangerfjord and along its 

 shores. South of Finmark, it breeds down to the Polar Circle, and 

 has frequently been found on the main-land and the larger is- 

 lands (on Lofoten, for instance), though less abundantly. This 

 species, too, in common no doubt with the majority of the small 

 birds of Finmark, takes an easterly direction when migrating, and 

 hence it is hardly ever seen in the lowlands of the south. The few 

 individuals observed here in a long series of years belonged pro- 

 bably most of them to the colony on the Dovrefjeld. 



In the summer of 1872, 1 found it most abundant on Store Tamsø, 

 in the Porsangerfjord, an island remarkable for the number of in- 

 teresting ornithological facts it supplies; here, in the month of July, 

 it occurred more numerously than any of the smaller birds, affec- 

 ting, as elsewhere, heather-grown spots. It evinced but little shy- 

 ness, running boldly over the knolls of earth. then covered with 

 Empetrufn and blooming Mubus ohamaemorus^ and was thus ren- 

 dered more conspicuous by contrast with the bright colours. I 

 never heard their song after the young were hatched. 



The nests of this bird, like thosé of Antkus pratensis and ccr- 

 trinus, are located beneath a knoll of earth, but can be easily di- 

 Btinguished from those of the latter by the thick laver of feathers 

 with which they are lined. The principal materials employed are 

 the same in both. s talks of div grass. 



The half-grown young, of which a description is given in Nyt 

 Mag. f. Xatiirv. Vol. 18, p. 173, have the feet pale and the bill 

 wlmlly brown, which is not the case with matnrer individuals; the 

 cnlineii. too, i- ool straight, but slightly cirved In this youid 

 stage, it is no easy matter, at the first glance, to distinguish them 

 from young of the same age of Emh .shoonChis, which have also 

 a brown curved bill and light feet. The young of the latter spe- 



