226 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



The thirtieth stage brought us to Suja, at 5.15 p.m. 

 Here we got a letter from Birse, and telegraphed to him 

 the time of our departure, and he is to meet us nearer to 

 Archangel. 



We left Suja at 6 p.m., and arrived at the thirty-first 

 station at 8 p.m. On this stage we had a capital driver, 

 who accomplished the long run of twenty-seven versts in 

 five minutes less than the two hours — by far and away our 

 quickest stage. To encourage, or urge on his horses, he 

 kept up a continual noise, and imitated the short bark of 

 wolves. We crossed and recrossed the Dvina more 

 than once, and finally crossed to the right bank for the 

 last time. We arrived at the thirty-second station at 

 10 p.m., and the thirty-third at 12 midnight. 



On Thursday, the 18th of March, at 2 a.m., we reached 

 the thirty-fourth station, and the 35th at 4.10 a.m., 

 with the thermometer at zero Fahr. We reached the 

 thirty-sixth station at 8*30 a.m., thermometer at 16° 

 Beaumur. 



We met Birse at Uima, which I recognised as the 

 place we once stopped at when coming down the river 

 from Cholmogory. After a nip of cognac we sledged on 

 merrily for Birse's house, and arrived at Archangel 

 about noon. 



March 18. 



We saw the following birds along our route from 

 Vologda to Archangel : — 



Hooded Crows were very common at all the stations. 

 They were very tame, feeding almost exclusively upon 

 what could be found in the droppings of cattle and 

 horses. They were in beautiful plumage, with the 

 rays of the black star on the breast very distinctly 

 defined. 



Jackdaws were equally abundant with the last. They 

 had very white collars. 



