Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. \77 



rather than hilly, and everywhere covered with forest, the 

 trees reaching frequently two, and in some rare instances 

 three, feet in diameter. The depth of the snow varied from 

 four to six feet ; and travelling without snow-shoes, except on 

 the hard-trodden roads, was of course utterly impossible. I 

 generally made two rounds a day through the forest, and soon 

 exhausted the ornithology of the district. During the first 

 week I succeeded in identifying twelve species of birds. For 

 the next four weeks I only increased my list by a weekly 

 average of three species. June is the month in which nearly 

 all migratory birds arrive in the arctic circle. In the three 

 weeks between the 29th of May and the 18th of June I added 

 sixty-five birds to my list, and afterwards only occasionally 

 picked up a new bird which had escaped my notice. 



We experienced great variety of weather on our journey 

 out. In St. Petersburg we alternated between a slight thaw 

 and a gentle frost. In Moscow and Nishni the snow was 

 melting rapidly. On the Volga we had occasionally to sledge 

 through a foot of water and half-melted snow. Over the 

 Ural hills we had bright sunshine and hard frost. Across 

 the steppes the weather was mild, but there was no absolute 

 thaw, and we had now and then slight snow-storms. After 

 leaving Tomsk the weather became decidedly milder; and when 

 we reached Kras-no-yarsk' we found a warm south-Avester 

 blowing, the streets running with water, and everybody travel- 

 ling on wheels. Our journey northwards was a complete 

 race with the south wind. The red hills of Kras-no-yarsk' 

 were already bare of snow ; the south-wester continued 

 blowing as warm as ever ; sledge-travelling had, for the time 

 being become impossible, and we were obliged to organize a 

 caravan. For two stages we travelled in a tyel-ay'-ga, with 

 one tar-an-tass' for our baggage, and a second for the empty 

 sledge. For the next two stages the road was covered with 

 snow, though it was somewhat soft ; but we dismissed a couple 

 of our equipages, travelling ourselves in the sledge, and re- 

 taining only one tar-an-tass' for the baggage. For the rest of 

 the journey to Yen-e-saisk' we had brilliant sunshine and hard 

 roads. The south wind, however, overtook us before we left 



SEE. IV. VOL. II. o 



