PETCHORA 341 



the young are helpless the parents are very silent, unless 

 suddenly disturbed, and creep about in and out among 

 the trees, making it a difficult matter to obtain specimens 

 at that time — in spring. But whenever the young are 

 able to feed themselves the parents become noisy, and 

 perch conspicuously and fearlessly on the barer trees. 



Tree Sparrow. — A flock of about a dozen of these birds 

 frequented the village, and the bitterly cold wind we have 

 had for the last two days seems to have retarded their 

 nesting operations. We saw no attempts being made at 

 nest-building. 



Pine Grosbeak. — We only got three of these birds, and 

 these three were all lying on the ground dead at the same 

 time. We saw no others. One of these birds was shot 

 just after it perched on the top of an old decayed upright 

 pine-stump. 



Bramhling. — Very common — perhaps the commonest 

 species here. One was shot by Seebohm on the naked 

 trunk of a birch-tree in the act of hopping on the bark in 

 a spiral direction some nine feet from the ground. It 

 was taken at first sight for a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. 



Little Bunting. — Not very common, but some were 

 seen each day. Perhaps their unobtrusive, indeed rather 

 stealthy, habits as this season may shield them greatly 

 from notice. They were fond of frequenting the mossy 

 and marshy hollows in the forest, in company with Blue- 

 headed Wagtails, Stints, and Fieldfares, feeding on 

 insects. 



Peed Bunting. — Not very common. Usually found on 

 the skirts of the pine-woods, amongst willows and alders, 

 and along the sides of the marshes, lakes, and over- 

 flows. 



Yellow-headed Wagtail. — Five of this most unexpected 

 species flew quickly past me in the thick forest, and 

 settled within range on the alder-bushes in an overflow of 



VOL. II. 24 



