120 OUR VOYAGE TO THE DELTA 



several places, but met with nothing of special interest. 

 Everywhere we found the bluethroat, the redwing, the 

 brambling, the fieldfare, the little bunting, and the 

 willow-warbler common. We saw a solitary sand-martin. 

 The peasants at Habariki had collected eggs for us ; 

 among them those of the redwing, the redstart, the hooded 

 crow, and various ducks. The best nest contained eight 

 eggs. It had been found by two boys, who had divided 

 the eggs and the down between them. Four of these 

 eggs, cream coloured, of a smaller size than the pintail's, 

 were first brought to us, and with them some pale grey 

 down. The lad who brought them said he had found 

 the nest in the old stump of a tree, and the fragments of 

 rotten wood scattered in the down seemed to corroborate 

 his statement. We then sent for the other sharer of the 

 spoil ; he had already sold the eggs, along with another 

 duck's nest, containing six eggs. On our inquiry as to 

 what he had done with the down, he immediately went 

 off for it, and soon brought it to us. It was very pale 

 down, containing small fragments of wood, the exact 

 counterpart of the other portion in our possession. We 

 found, however, that the down of the second nest was 

 mingled with it. We had no difficulty in separating it, 

 for it was brown, and evidently that of the pintail. Ulti- 

 mately we purchased the batch of ten eggs from Sideroff's 

 manager, who had bought them from the lad. Four 

 exactly matched the four we had secured from his com- 

 panion ; the other six were the same in size but greenish 

 in colour, and similar to eggs of the pintail duck which 

 we afterwar.ls obtained. Upon shewing the boys some 

 skins of ducks, they at once identified the smew as the 

 duck which belonged to the whiter eggs with the pale 

 grey down. These eggs are extremely rare in collections, 

 and we were not a little elated with our prize. 



