396 FROM DUDINKA TO GOLCHIKA 



when I took advantage of our enforced delay, and went 

 on shore for a few hours. A cHmb of about one hundred 

 feet landed me on the tundra. In some places the cliffs 

 were very steep, and were naked mud or clay. In others, 

 the slope was more gradual, and covered with willow and 

 alder bushes. In these trees thrushes were breeding ; I 

 soon found the nest of a dusky ouzel, with five nearly 

 fledged young. It was placed as before in the fork of a 

 willow, level with the ground. On the top of the bank 

 I found myself on the real tundra. Not a trace of a pine- 

 tree was visible, and the birches rarely exceeded twelve 

 inches in height. There was less grass, more moss and 

 lichen, and the ground was covered with patches of 

 yellow mud or clay, in which were a few small stones, that 

 were apparently too barren for even moss or lichen to 

 grow upon. The tundra was hilly, with lakes, swamps, 

 and bogs in the wide valleys and plains. As soon as I 

 reached the flat bogs I heard the plaintive cry of a 

 plover, and presently caught sight of two birds. The 

 male was very conspicuous, but all my attempts to follow 

 the female with my glass, in order to trace her to the 

 nest, proved ineffectual ; she was too nearly the colour 

 of the ground, and the herbage was too high. Feeling con- 

 vinced that I was within thirty paces of the nest, I shot the 

 male, and commenced a diligent search. The bird proved 

 to be the Asiatic golden plover, with grey axillaries, and 

 I determined to devote at least an hour looking for the 

 nest. By a wonderful piece of good fortune I found it, 

 with four eggs, in less than five minutes. It was merely 

 a hollow in the ground upon a piece of turfy land, over- 

 grown with moss and lichen, and was lined with broken 

 stalks of reindeer-moss. The eggs more resembled those 

 of the golden than those of the grey plover, but were 

 smaller than either. These are the only authenticated 



