THE TUNDRA'S VARIED GROUND 213 



ing, do not take any part in incubation. The ground 

 where the nests were placed was full of tussocks or 

 hummocks, close together, the swampy ground between 

 being almost hidden, or traceable only by rows of cotton- 

 grass. The nests were within a hundred yards of the 

 place where I shot the five Little stints on July 14, on 

 a comparatively dry extent of tundra gently sloping 

 towards the north-east, lying between the lagoon and 

 the inland sea — exactly the place in which one would 

 expect them to breed, not too swampy, but probably 

 the coolest place the birds could have chosen. The 

 Pytkoff Mts., though at a considerably greater elevation 

 (513 feet above the level of the sea), are no doubt 

 warmer, because more inland. The sandy shore, having 

 little or no cover, would also be hotter from the sun. 

 Facing the north-east, this part of the tundra catches the 

 most of the prevailing winds at this season of the year, 

 and the least sun ; and no doubt the large bay or inland 

 sea on one side, and the open water on the other, help to 

 cool the air. 



We had already given names to the different sorts of 

 ground on the tundra. The dry, grassy hills were the 

 shore-lark ground ; the dead, flat bog, intersected with 

 tussocky ridges, was the grey plover ground ; the 

 swampy marsh, covered with long grass, was the reeve 

 ground. Where the grass was shorter and more tangled 

 and knotted, it became dunlin ground ; and where this 

 short grassy swamp was sprinkled over with tussocks of 

 dryer earth, covered over with moss and flowers, it was 

 the Lapland bunting or red-throated pipit l^ round. The 

 part where the tussocks lay so close together that they 

 reminded one of the hundred domes of the Stamboul 

 bazaar seen from the minaret of Santa Sophia, and the 

 swampy ground was almost hidden, or traceable only by 



