154 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



June 27. 



At 2 a.m. on the 27th, Piottucb brought in two Eed- 

 throated Divers, from one of which we afterwards took a 

 perfect egg. He had also fired at and struck a Crane, 



On the 27th of June, Thursday, Nicholai and Piottuch 

 started for the far end of the island (Koombush), intending 

 to remain there all night if necessary. The rest skinned 

 all the forenoon and then went short trips into the woods. 

 Alston got two Little Buntings, and I two Wood Sand- 

 pipers, one AVillow Warbler, one Eed-throated Pipit, a 

 species which Meves does not seem to have met with here. 

 We also caught a young Grey-headed Wagtail. 



Our stock of drinking-water ran out, and there being 

 none near us, we sent two of the men in the boat up the 

 river for a fresh supply, which it took them two and a half 

 hours to bring. We cooked our own dinner, split and 

 fried Willow Grouse and tea, the former pretty well 

 burnt ! After dinner Ernst Craemers made a big bonfire 

 with an old tar-barrel. 



He told us that, in spring five years ago, the north wind 

 drove the water from the Arctic Sea into the White Sea, 

 dammed back the river Dvina, flooded all the lower part 

 of the peasants' houses in the villages on the delta, and a 

 famine ensued, as they could not sow their grain or plant 

 potatoes till June. 



Our friend Piottuch is a great bear-hunter, and around 

 Mezen has killed at least twenty bears (been in at the 

 death of twenty), and Ernst thinks quite thirty. 



Koombush is a sandy island, covered for some distance 

 inland with low scrub of birch and alder, frequented by 

 great numbers of Grey-headed and White Wagtails, 

 Willow Warblers, Mealy Redpolls, and it was here that 

 we met with the Eed-throated Pipit for the first time. 



Piottuch and Nicholai returned, having had no luck. 

 They saw several Cranes and found an empty nest, and 



