7842 



Birds. 



breakfast we separated to explore the island ; and Heikel and myself, 

 meeting soon after on the opposite side, went on in company, but had 

 no success, only finding a few small birds. * * * 



"We had quite given up all hope of finding the waxwing's nest, 

 when, as J was crossing a little barren to join Heikel, T saw, in a small 

 pine tree close to where he was standing, a nest with several young 

 ones in it sitting bolt upright, just as grebes sit. Going nearer, I in- 

 stantly knew them to be wax wings. We threw off our game-bags, 

 and, while he stood below, I climbed up to the nest, which was in the 

 fork between the main stem and the first branch, and not above nine 

 or ten feet from the ground. The moment I touched it, the young 

 ones (five in number) flew out. I jumped down, made a cut at the 

 largest with my cap, and secured him ; but Heikel did not get one. 

 Directly the young one which I had caught began to cry out, several 

 wax wings flew from the neighbouring thicket, all however keeping out 

 of gunshot except two, which came close round me, and both of which 

 I shot. I then sat down and imitated, as well as I could, the call of 

 the old birds. I was soon rewarded for my trouble by a young one 

 coming out of a blueberry bush close by and calling lustily. Heikel 

 and I gave chase and secured him. Granberg, who had heard my 

 two shots, then coming up, we commenced a diligent search for the 

 other three young ones, but had to give it up as hopeless, owing to 

 the thickness of the under-scrub. I then climbed up again and took 

 the nest away carefully, so as to preserve the shape, and to my great 

 delight found one egg in it. We hunted for several hours in the 

 higher part of the island for another nest; but, although we saw about 

 nine old birds, we did not succeed in finding another nest. We 

 did not shoot any more, hoping to find nests there at some future 

 period. 



"We returned to Uleaborg the same evening, when T skinned my 

 birds. We ought to have made an equal division of the spoil, but 

 neither Granberg nor Heikel would hear of any division ; consequently 

 I have still two old birds and two young ones, besides the nest and 

 egg, in my possession. I regret to say I did not look to see what the 

 young birds had been fed upon ; but when I took the nest I found one 

 or two of last year's dried cranberries in it." 



In 1859 the wax wing bred, but in no great numbers, in the Muoni- 

 oniska and Kittila districts. Though much sought for, not more than 

 forty-six eggs were obtained by Mr. Wolley's collectors. 



During the past summer it seems to have been rather more numerous. 



