PETCHORA 359 



heard ' churring ' in an alder thicket. I shot a fine male 

 Wigeon, and was then ferried over to the other bank of 

 the river [Petchora or Yorsa ?] , where there are certain 

 hay-meadows with labyrinths of alder swamps and kourias 

 winding about in the hollows. The hay-meadows are 

 raised ridges and open spaces covered with green grass, a 

 foot or so deep, with the Emheriza aureola plant ( Veratrum 

 album), which Alston and I found so plentiful near 

 Archangel in 1872, beginning to spring up. Here I shot 

 a Great Snipe out of a party of five, and immediately 

 afterwards a fine Yellow-headed Wagtail 3 , which was 

 perched on a bare rotten alder in the same ' croodled-up ' 

 position which was observed before at Habarika, the 

 fluffy appearance of the feathers making it look tvv^ice its 

 natural size. The female rose at the same time from an 

 alder thicket close at hand, and flew right away. 



Eeturning to the same spot later, I fired at the female 

 and wounded it, and it dropped across a deep kouria in 

 a thick flooded alder thicket. I afterwards directed 

 Seebohm to the spot, and he got one of our men to 

 scull the little boat through the bushes, but he could see 

 nothing of the bird. 



The meadows here are in general appearance much like 

 those at Archangel, and just the kind of places one would 

 expect to find the Yellow-breasted Bunting abundant in. 

 As yet, however, we have never caught sight of that 

 lovely species. The Little Bunting was very abundant, 

 and I saw one carrying material for its nest. 



Eeed Buntings were not rare, and Seebohm when 

 looking for the $ Wagtail found a nest of this species 

 built in an old Fieldfare's nest, nine feet up in an 

 alder-hnsh above the level of the water. Redpolls were 

 common, and I found a nest containing young of the 

 large light-coloured bird, which was distinctly recognisable 

 as it flew low away off its nest. Expecting to take eggs. 



