CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNTS OF SAGIIALIN. Ö 



verge of an extensive conifer forest tliut covered tlie nndulating 

 or hilly country behind. A strip of pasture land ran along 

 the sea coast, and witliin easy reach of us were some valleys 

 thickly wooded and traversed by streams. I thought a better 

 spot for the site of my head-quarter could not be chosen ; 

 and in this anticipation I have not been mistaken. Moreover, 

 towards the end of May as the migration of several of the smaller 

 birds was in its height, we seemed to be right in the road of 

 their passage. 



** Early in June an excursion was made to Vladirairofka 

 and neighbourhood. Vladimirofka, now the legislative center of 

 Japanese Saghalin, is a town situated about 38 kilometers north 

 of Korsakoff, on the plain watered by the Susuya River and 

 tributary streams. Khomatofka is a village on the highway to 

 Vladimirofka, 8 kilometers to the south of that town. To the 

 west of Khomatofka and at the foot of hills is the village of 

 Troitskoe, about 10 kilometers distant from Vladimirofka on the 

 road to Lioutoga. The neighbourhood of the localities referred 

 to is well wooded, the trees being mostly conifers with a sprinkling 

 of biixîhes, elms, etc. Farms, pastures, swampy fields and tracts 

 of land deforested by fire are also not wanting. On June 13th, 

 we returned to our head-quarter near Tretiya Padj. Then at 

 last the cherries were in blossom, a circumstance which in Japan 

 is considered to be a sign of the advent of Spring. 



" Towards the end of June, the writer made a flying trip 

 to Patience Bay and Robben Island on a steamer commissioned 

 by the government to take provisions to the latter. The trip 

 offered but little chance to make additions to my ornithological 

 collection. Yankenai is one of the spots which the steamer 



