390 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



thologists. 1 Seebohmin 1877 undertook a second journey, 

 this time to the Yenisei : and thrice since then has Mr 

 H. Leyborne Popham visited that great Siberian river, 

 where he was the first to find a region where the godwit 

 "breeds plentifully." This was between 6g° and 72° N. 

 lat, four nests being found at the end of June and early 

 in July, 1895 ; while he also met with grey plover and 

 little stint breeding in this new locality. 



A yet greater success befell the same explorer two years 

 later, when, on July 3rd, 1897, he at length succeeded in 

 discovering a nest of the curlew-sandpiper on an island 

 of the Yenisei below Golchika. The female was secured 

 as she ran from her nest containing four eggs — the first 

 ever seen by civilised man ! But only this single nest 

 was discovered, and it appeared probable that the main 

 breeding-grounds of the curlew-sandpiper lay still further 

 eastward. 



Gradually the veil of mystery was being lifted : but 

 two of the quartette remained undiscovered till four 

 years later. Then, in 1900, the Russian exploring-vessel 

 Sarj'a, being caught in the ice off the Siberian coast on 

 September 13th, remained beset till August nth of the 

 following year ; during which involuntary sojourn, her 

 surgeon and ornithologist, Dr Walter, succeeded in dis- 

 covering both the missing species — the knot and sander- 

 ling^ — nesting in the Old World ; besides finding the 

 curlew-sandpiper in a second spot, the whole trio breeding 

 within reach of the ice-bound ship ! 



The exact position of the Sarja was in 76° 68" N. lat., 



1 Many foreign naturalists, notably Dr von Middendorff aforesaid, 

 Professor Collett, Henke, Dr O. Finsch, and others, have done excellent work 

 in far northern Europe and Siberia ; but in the interests of brevity, I may 

 perhaps be excused if I confine my remarks to compatriots. 



