252 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



en route, to pack and unpack them for the edification 

 of those to whom we carry, and also of those to whom we 

 do not carry, letters of introduction.' 



There is now a regular snowstorm, and it may be 

 advisable to delay our departure from to night till to- 

 morrow morning. But then there are still many 

 Mezenites who have not seen our hammocks and our 

 canteen, our ' fusils' and our revolvers, etc., and we may 

 find it advisable to remain even yet another day. And 

 we are informed by the Ispravnik that there are 800 

 inhabitants in Mezen. 



We watched the Snow Buntings to-day, and saw them 

 distinctly both run and hop. They uttered their tinkling 

 note as they flew overhead, drifting like snow-flakes 

 down wind or making their way against it with dipping 

 or butterfly flight. 



The boy who was catching them set horse-hair nooses 

 fastened to a straight, or to a triangular set of straight, 

 flat boards, which he sunk in the snow or ground, 

 allowing only the nooses to appear above. 



April 11. 



We left Mezen at nine o'clock on the morning of 

 Sunday, the 11th of April, and on arriving at the first 

 station — Lompozhenskaia — we found that we had dis- 

 tanced 'Cocksure P.' by at least 3 versts, and we had 

 to wait an hour for his arrival. He did not succeed 

 in selhng his gun at Mezen, though he was offered a good 

 price — £15 — and a muzzle-loading gun besides. His 

 Ijreech-loading gun is 10 gauge, and he finds it difficult 

 to get cartridges. 



On arriving at the station he confessed to having had a 

 wee drop too much of (sweet?) champagne with his 

 Mezen friends last night, and certainly he looked very 

 ' katzenjammerisch ' this morning. 



