TO RUSSIA AND BACK. 3 



and that of London. After setting our watches right, we 

 steamed off again and passed to the north of the island of 

 Bornhohii, and near to the unpronounceable place called 

 Utkhipporna. No view to be obtained of the Prussian 

 coast at any time. 



The following morning, a little before 7 a.m., when the 

 " Ranger " had passed the island of CEland — visited for 

 egghig purposes by Messrs. Wolley and Huddleston in 

 1866 — and was off Gottland, on the Swedish side of the 

 Baltic — weather thick and inclined to rain — several Inses- 

 sorial birds alighted on the rigging. With them was a Hawk, 

 which, according to the report of the man at the helm, was 

 so exhausted that it fell into the sea. When I came on 

 deck, the only bird which remained was a Phyllopncuste — I 

 believe P. trocJdliis (L.). It was joined by another, ap- 

 parently of the same species, somewhat later in the day. 

 At 2.45 a female Pied Flycatcher (Aluscicapa atricapilla L.) 

 settled on the ship, which I got a good view of by creeping 

 along under the bulwarks. There was no wind at that time. 

 It had no sooner left us than one of the boys caught a bird 

 which had been about, I believe, all the morning, and 

 which proved to be a Red-backed Shrike. Doubtless these 

 feathered pilgrims were but the vanguard of the great 

 autumnal tide of migration. They must have come from 

 the immense firwoods which skirt the Swedish shore, and 

 extend into the interior. The author of a " Note Book of a 

 Naturalist" mentions, (p. 64) that when he was sailing 

 near the same place, a Long-tailed Titmouse came on 

 board, which is far more remarkable than any of the birds 

 I saw. 



As evening drew on, the sea, which before was calm 

 as glass, began to be gently rippled by a passing wind. 

 Quickly the sails felt the breeze. Quickly our good ship 

 ploughed her way onwards, and as she went she left 

 behind her a broad wake of foam, on which there fell the 



