Prefa 



ce 



In the following narratives of three visits paid to the 

 northern parts of Europe, I have made no attempt to 

 rewrite or clothe in new phraseology my original journals. 

 Therefore, any claim they may have upon those of the 

 public who may be disposed to read them is their simple 

 journalistic form and continuity of events — just as they 

 occurred ; just as they appeared to me ; and just as I 

 wrote them down at the close of each day. 



At the times my companions and I visited these 

 countries, they were considered as being amongst ' the 

 remoter regions of the earth,' unless perhaps Norway 

 be excepted ; for even Wolley and other British collectors 

 had not penetrated so far eastwards as the White Sea, 

 nor collected steadily on the Delta of the Dvina. 



For many years I had studied the collecting experiences 

 of the late Mr. John Wolley, and, as early as 1865, I had 

 possessed treasures of his finding, which had been placed 

 in the market, through Mr. Baker at Cambridge ; and a 

 friend and myself secured the first selections from that 

 mine of oological wealth. 



I had also treasured up in memory and in notebooks, 

 etc., many sentences of Wolley 's writings, regarding the 

 discoveries he had made, and about those which might 



