THE YELLOW-HEADED WAGTAIL iii 



pecker. During the season of incubation the Siberian 

 jay seemed shy and silent. 



A flock of tree-sparrows was always to be seen 

 among the few houses in the village, sometimes perched 

 on the railings, at other times gathered in a bunch on 

 the roofs. We saw no evidence of their havingf beeun 

 to think about building. The pine-grosbeak was one of 

 the commonest, if not the commonest bird at Habariki, 

 and the mealy redpoll also was common. The little 

 bunting was not rare, but its shy and retiring habits often 

 caused us to overlook it. We rarely heard it sing, yet 

 frequently noticed its quiet call-note. We also often 

 came upon it feeding on the ground near the swampy 

 edge of the forest tarns, in company with yellow wag- 

 tails, fieldfares, and bramblings. We saw several reed- 

 buntings, and shot a male. They usually frequented the 

 willows on the edges of the marshes and lakes. The 

 green wagtail was common, and still kept together in 

 flocks ; we constantly saw them in trees. 



The yellow-headed wagtail {Motacilla citreola) was 

 a bird we had neither of us met with before. The 

 alighting of a small party of five on an alder-bush 

 surprised us. We secured a male, but the remainder 

 disappeared among some alders and willows growing on 

 an impassable piece of flooded land close to the Petchora, 

 which was also full of floating driftwood. So, unfortu- 

 nately, we saw them no more. 



We noticed a few white wagtails, principally near the 

 village. Fieldfares were numerous, sometimes in flocks, 

 generally in pairs. They scarcely seemed to have yet 

 begun to breed. We had two nests brought us, how- 

 ever, each containing one ^%%. We found plenty of old 

 isolated nests, but no traces of colonies. The fieldfares 

 were singing far more in the woods about Habariki 



