Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/91

Rh Ægialitis hiaticula.—On July 14th a boy showed us a Ringed Plover's nest with four eggs on the shingle at Grindö. On the 20th there were several of these birds about the beach at Tisnaes.

Hæmatopus ostralegus.—Oystercatchers were very noisy about the rocky point at the north end of Grindö. They had made many nest hollows on the beach, which was here entirely composed of broken shell, with bits of coral and of calcareous sponges. On the 17th, near Lyngseidet, a vociferous pair must have had young ones hidden close at hand. Others were feeding with Curlew on the mud-flats. We saw Oystercatchers on the 23rd on a little island off Svolvaer.

Sterna macrura.—On July 16th, just before the 'Lyngen' touched at Finkroken, on the Reinö, we passed a little island upon which a large colony of Arctic Terns was nesting. They filled the air like snowflakes. Others were seen on the 23rd during a boating excursion off Svolvaer.

Larus marinus.—A few Great Black-backs were seen. On the 23rd I noted a pair about an æg-vaer, or Eider hatchery, off Svolvaer.

L. fuscus.—A few Lesser Black-backed Gulls were breeding in company with the next species about the far side of Tromsö Island. The higher part of Skjervö Island, very rough ground, all crowberry and rock, was a gullery of these two species. Here on the 17th we caught three young birds of different ages, two of them nearly ready to fly. Others had already gone down to the beach.

L. argentatus.—Herring Gulls were very numerous on the 17th at Lyngseidet, where in the early morning they were pilfering split fish from the drying rails. The shore was littered with cod-heads and backbones, the usual refuse of a Norwegian fishing village. On the 18th we touched at the whaling station of Skaarö. Eleven freshly-killed Whales were floating at anchor alongside, two or three ashore were being flensed, and about a dozen carcases which had been stripped were waiting to be made into fish-guano. The water was covered with oil and floating refuse, so that the place naturally had special attractions for Gulls, which were in countless numbers. At Tromsö we bought two Herring Gulls' eggs of the variety mentioned by Mr. Aplin. They are marked with red-brown and ash on a warm cream-