298 Messrs. H. Seebohm and J . A. Harvie Brown on 
except at their point of junction, by a peninsula, the sea- 
ward side of which consists of a range of sand-hills covered 
with esparto-grass, lowering towards its extremity to a gravelly 
sandy ridge, which latter, sweeping inland in a circle, comes 
‘to a sharp point, and forms a promontory on the shore of the 
inland sea*. Inside the sand-hills there is a level green 
-ymeadow studded over with many small pools, and intersected 
‘by narrow winding lanes of brackish and stagnant water. 
Many of these pools are of curious shapes, having almost an 
artificial appearance, their edges, about a foot in height, being 
perpendicular and even, as if cut byaspade. At the bottom, 
‘below a foot or two of water, is a deep, tenacious, bluish 
‘black mud, which, if disturbed, gives off a powerful and offen- 
sive smell. Quantities of water-plants grow on the surfaces 
of some of them, sometimes almost choking them up. It is 
upon the edges of the pools and on the shores of the inland 
sea adjoining, that the flocks of wading birds are found at 
feeding-time. Red-necked Phalaropes settle on the surface 
of the pools; Ruffs and Dunlins and the little flocks of Stints 
feed along the edges ; and a few Grey Plovers come down from 
the tundra and run over the meadow. Buffon’s Skuas fly 
overhead from time to time; and Seebohm obtained a fine 
Snowy Owl, which perched on the gravel ridge. Snow- 
Buntings were seen here occasionally ; but they seemed to 
prefer the piles of drift wood near the sea-shore and the barer 
ground, Ducks—Long-tailed and Pintail—with their young, 
were also found; and Wild Swans were sometimes seen far 

A.D. 1611) that “an airie of Slight- [sic] Falcons” was purchased. It 
was near this also that we found two nests of the Peregrine Falcon. 
The persistent return of Falcons to favourite breeding-places year after 
year has been recorded before, notably in ‘Ooth. Woll.,’ part 1, p. 99; 
and it is possible that in this instance also the same sites may have 
been occupied continuously, or at intervals, since the date mentioned by 
Purchas, 
* The geographical position of the inland sea, as shown upon the Ad- 
miralty Chart (Chart of Norway and White Sea—Supplementary Sheet) 
is as nearly as possible 683° N. lat., and 55°55’ KE. long. In this chart 
even the above-mentioned promontory is delineated with tolerable ex- 
actitude. : 



