31 Dan Meinertzhagen's Diary. 



skaes at six to the north-east of the village. 

 We had to start early, as the sun by mid-day 

 thaws the crust on the snow, and one cannot 

 get about, anyhow, in the afternoon. 



We made for the wood where yesterday I 

 saw a Hawk Owl, and after a few minutes I saw 

 what I took to be a Pine Cross Bill get up 

 some way in front of me, and made for him. 

 It however flew some distance, but in a few 

 minutes I heard him singing (I knew the song 

 from one we had alive in our rooms at Harrow) 

 about one hundred yards off, and at the same 

 moment 1 heard a shot, and shouted to Bob to 

 ask what he had got. He said, a " Cross 

 Bill," at which 1 felt much relie\'ed, and went 

 up to him, when, to my surprise, I found he had 

 killed a Grosbeak. Within a few hundred 

 yards I shot a cock Cross Bill, and a little 

 later on I found a pair of Siberian Jays, which 

 we killed, 1 the male and Bob the female. After 

 1 had killed the male, the female sat up at the 

 top of a high tree, and gave us the most delight- 

 ful song, which I waited to hear, till 1 told Bob 

 of her whereabouts. In the evening one of the 

 boys here brought me a nest of Jays (four 

 ^ggs), taken this side of the river. We got 

 home about two, and went out again without 

 skaes till se\'en, but I saw nothing. 



