PETCHORA 389 



and I remained a little above to shoot the birds if they 

 stooped, which both male and female did in succession. 

 First shot I hit the female bird hard, but she recovered 

 and went off. Then the male continued plunging, some- 

 times at Simeon sometimes at me, and offering, perhaps, 

 one of the most puzzling shots know-n. I missed three 

 shots taking him on the rise after the stoop, but the 

 fourth, as he came straight at me, almost pei-pendicularlij , 

 stretched him dead on the grass. 



The nest contained three eggs, large and handsome. 

 This eyrie is not more than a mile distant from the other 

 one. 



On the tundra afterwards Simeon and I found several 

 nests of small birds, a Golden Plover's with four, the 

 bird being shot, a Black-throated Diver's and a Long- 

 tailed Duck's with eggs and down. Simeon distinctly 

 said, 'Neat chorna ootka ; malenkay.' I said, 'Neat 

 chorna,' pointing to some Black Scoters on a tarn, and 

 he repeated ' Neat, neat.' I then imitated the cry of the 

 Long-tailed Duck, ' cow, cow-wie,' and he said ' Da, da ; ' 

 grinned and nodded his head. 



The Long-tailed Duck appears to be quite the 

 commonest Duck on the tundra, and the only others seen 

 by me to-day were Black Scoters and one pair of Velvet 

 Scoters, the only ones we met with (see infra). 



Coming home I saw a pair of Arctic (Kichardson's) 

 Skuas performing various curious antics on a level part of 

 the tundra, which told me the nest was close at hand. 

 The birds often alighted within fifteen yards of me, raised 

 the wings above the back — when they did this the white 

 or dusky quills showed like a patch upon the raised wings 

 — shammed lameness and sickness, and stood reeling from 

 side to side as if mortally wounded. If I followed them, 

 they continued to try and lead me off ; but if I again 

 approached the nest, they flew boldly towards me, and 



VOL. II. 27 



