4 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST, 



rays of a red setting sun in most transcendent splendour. 

 Gradually we left CEland in the distance, but the sun had 

 illumined the vault of heaven, and there remained a glittering 

 pathway over the waters of the Baltic for many hours, until 

 night shrouded the scene. On that occasion I observed a 

 ship in the ball of the sun, as he dipped to his rest below 

 the horizon. 



The day following we entered the Gulf of Finland. On 

 the 20th, when off Hogland island, a Kestrel (Tinnuncuhis 

 alandarius) paid us a visit, which was the only other bird 

 we saw, for the same evening we anchored outside the 

 bristling batteries of Cronstadt. Thousands of half-wild 

 Pigeons were swarming about the harbour, and I recognised 

 my old friend the Grey Crow, (Corvns comix L.) not often 

 to be seen in our country in August, but here in Russia 

 they are stay-at-home birds, and probably do not migrate 

 at all. Their tameness at St Petersburg would shock 

 Alexander Selkirk. They stalk about the streets with the 

 air of a landed proprietor, who is kindly permitting the 

 wood merchants to pile their timber on his wharf It is 

 said they have been even known to seize the sacred 

 Pigeons ! 



The city of St. Petersburgh is built almost entirely upon 

 piles. Nevertheless, it is on such a low bad site, that if 

 Lake Ladoga overflowed, and a certain conjunction of 

 wind and tide took place, it would infallibly be swamped ; 

 and a good many people expect that this will happen some 

 day. 



The finest edifice is the Isaac Cathedral, beyond all 

 question. It is in the form of a Greek cross. Its grand 

 simplicity is very effective. Hemmed in by no houses like 

 our St. Paul's, yet with all the finest buildings in the 

 capital grouped around it, its noble porticos, its colossal 

 proportions free from all meretricious ornament, and its 

 vast gilded dome tower up into the air. It is surmounted 



