448 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



closely resemble one another, it may be well here at 

 once to institute a comparison. 



First, we will take the youngest Little Stints and the 

 youngest Dunlins, and these are to all appearance of the 

 same, or very nearly the same, age — viz., about two 

 days' old. 



Little Stint juv. Dunlin juv. 



Tarsus and feet quite a 10th 



of an inch less. longer. 



Colour of down on back 



and sides of neck redder ; 



and less black showing 



through. 



At night the surf was running high on the shore, and a 

 cold strong wind, almost amounting to a gale, blew from 

 the north. All the mist cleared oif, and the air had quite 

 a wintry chilliness. 



About 7 p.m. Piottuch took us to the fifth Little Stint's 

 nest, about three versts off. 



On the way we caught a young Grey Plover, the old 

 birds flying round at the time. It is larger than any of 

 the others we have, and the golden tinge on the down is 

 much fainter, giving place to grey. 



The Little Stint's nest was on the sloping edge of the 

 tundra, on the bank of a small river which runs into the 

 inlet at the south end. 



The turf was rather different from that surrounding the 

 other nests, but the Arctic Bramble was still present, and 

 a good deal of bright green moss, and a larger quantity 

 of wiry J uncus or Carex, while the yellow deep moss or 

 Sphagnum was quite absent. 



When cut out there was found to be only a thin layer 

 of vegetation over a black peat soil, whereas the turf cut 



