TO RUSSIA AND BACK. 13 



than eight were displayed. The preparations were really 

 very neat, and each had a separate label. In the Interna- 

 tional Exhibition of 1862, there was a very similar series of 

 the dried contents of the gizzards of the chief birds of 

 France. 



The University was founded by Elizabeth, daughter of 

 Peter the Great. There are seventy-five professors, and the 

 library contains about 160,000 books. 



The line of railway which connects the two chief cities of 

 Russia is straight as an arrow. The story goes, that the 

 Tzar took a ruler and drew a line across the map, and said 

 to the government engineer, " That is how the railway is to 

 go." He made it accordingly, and it is 403 miles long. 



On re-visiting the live- bird stalls at St. Petersburgh I 

 saw pretty much the same species as before, and a few 

 additional ones, to wit, the Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, 

 Creeper, and Lapwing. In a poulterer's window I saw a 

 stuffed Blackcock most beautifully pied, and a hybrid be- 

 tween that species and the Willow Grouse. I purchased a 

 Green Woodpecker and a Goldeneye Duck, and tried to 

 skin them, but the Woodpecker was almost too stale for 

 the purpose. It is difficult to see what birds the poulterers 

 have, for they keep them shut up in lockers instead of hang- 

 ing them out. 



On the 24th I saw a Waxwing at the Exchange Gardens 

 for sale, and bought a Missel Thrush. On the 25th I 

 dropped on to some fresh birds at the market, three Little 

 Stints, a Dunlin, a Ring-Dotterel (Charadrius intcnncdius), 

 and a young Grey Plover, which was so yellow that but for 

 its black axillaries it might have passed for a Golden. 



The close of the month was wet, and I was not sorry to 

 leave on the 28th of September, after collecting fifty-nine 

 birds, a considerable number for so short a time. St. 

 Petersburgh is wonderfully hot in summer, considering how 

 far north it is ; but the climate appears to suit the English, 



