10 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



Willow Grouse* (in part summer plumage), Double Snipes, 

 and Teal. 



While I was examining them, a fine Buzzard soared about 

 overhead on the look-out for anything he could pick up. I 

 soon afterwards saw some more, circling at no great height. 

 I have understood that they propagate as well as roost in 

 the steeples and minarets ; and that besides clearing up all 

 kinds of refuse, as the scavenger Kite once did in London, 

 they make prey of the Pigeons which infest Moscow. 



Pigeons are never shot in the town ; they roost and 

 nidify in the Kremlin's gilded cupolas, and are very com- 

 mon throughout the city. 



Of course I visited the Zoological Gardens of the Imperial 

 Acclimatisation Society, which are prettily laid out, and 

 with a fine sheet of water. I was informed that the animals 

 had fallen off, but there still remained a fine collection, in- 

 cluding upwards of twenty Eagles, and a similar number of 

 Ruddy Shelducks, also one or more of the following species 

 — Caucasian Snow-Partridge, Great Bustard, Coot, Black- 

 tailed Godwit, Green Sandpiper, Capercaillie, Snipe, and 

 Common Sandpiper ; altogether there were sixty-five sorts 

 of birds in the Gardens, and the collection was very superior 

 to that at St. Petersburg!!. 



On the 1 2th, after glancing over the bird market, where 

 I noticed a Nutcracker, an albinoe Quail, and a Waxwing, 

 I drove with a friend to the famous Sparrow Hills, whence 

 Napoleon first viewed the city. It was a noble stand-point, 

 almost equal to Arthur's seat at Edinburgh. "All this is 

 yours," he is said to have exclaimed, and the shout of 



* Mr. Yarrell, in 1843, gives the price of Ptarmigan at four shillings 

 a brace, (B. B., 11., p. 327,) but does not say if they were Scotch 

 Ptarmigan or Norway Willow Grouse. The latter is far and away the 

 commoner in Leadenhall market. The price has gone up since his time, 

 Scotch Ptarmigan being twelve and sixpence a brace in October, and 

 Norway Willow Grouse six shillings 



