BIRDS IN THE FOREST 



341 



a brace of them. The last was a lesser whitethroat 

 {Sylvia afUnis) in the trees at the top of the banks of the 

 Kureika. In the forest birds were abundant enough. 

 A woodpecker made the woods ring again with its loud 

 tapping. Willow-warblers and bluethroats were the 

 principal songsters. I heard the Siberian chiffchaff 

 repeatedly, and shot a 

 yellow-browed warbler 

 while it was uttering its 

 note most vociferously. 

 I also saw several 

 scarlet bullfinches. 



On the grass around 

 the house, shore-larks 

 and Lapland buntings 

 congregated in a large 

 flock. Both species 

 occasionally run and 

 occasionally hop, but 

 I think the shore-larks 

 hop oftener. I noticed 

 also that the Lapland 

 buntings when dis- 

 turbed generally sought 



refuge in a tree. Another very common bird was the pintail 

 snipe. I could have shot a score a day had I possessed 

 cartridges to spare. They came wheeling round, uttering a 

 loud and rather shrill cry — peezk, then dropped down with 

 a great whirr of wing and with tail outspread, an occupa- 

 tion which seemed so engrossing that they did not 

 discover until upon the ground that they had alighted 

 within twenty yards of a man with a gun. By this time 

 many mosquitoes were on the wing, but as yet their bite 

 was not very virulent. 



RUSSIAN PIPE 



