the Birds of the Lower Petchora. 223 



down tLv. ""^i- and had secured some interesting species of 

 bjrds j but c ; whole we felt disappointed in the delta^ with 

 its never-ending almost impenetrable willow-swamps and 

 winding " Kurias " and little pools of water. Our experience 

 of every island was almost the same — the same landscape, 

 the same conditions, the same bird-life ; and we looked for- 

 ward with eagerness to the real new land, the land of promise 

 — Arkya Ya, the great land of the Samoyedes. 



During all the time we remained at Ust Zylma, while the 

 migration was going on, we had seen nothing of the Grey 

 Plover. We saw many Plovers passing over, or resting or 

 feeding in little flocks in the ploughed or newly sown fields ; 

 but all those which we shot or identified belonged to the com- 

 mon species. We had therefore little expectation of after- 

 wards meeting with it at its breeding-haunts*. 



But a glad surprise awaited us. On the 22nd June we at 

 last had our wislies gratified. We crossed from Alexievka in 

 our clumsy unmanageable boat, to the eastern or right bank 

 of the river, and, climbing up the steep clay slope, stood upon 

 the tundra. We had a large party on this our first day on 

 the tundra — all our little force in fact, — Piottuch and our- 

 selves, and our four men — Simeon the Samoyede, Little Feo- 

 dor the half-breed, Gavriel and Big Feodor, Russians. Little 

 did we guess as we stood on the top of the steep river-bank 

 and gazed away inland over the wide expanse of moor and 



* Much valuable information concerning the migi-ations and arrivals of 

 some of our rai'er European Waders on the Volga and Kama rivers is con- 

 tained in a Russian work, of which we give the complete title below, and 

 which we had an opportunity afterwards of consulting with Piottuch 's 

 assistance. In it the authors, speaking of the present species, inform us 

 that it is seen on both migrations in May and September, in small flocks, 

 in the neighbourhood of Kasan, but not every year. Thence, doubtless 

 these migratory flocks in spring descend the Petchora river as far as Ust 

 Ussa (the mouth of the river Ussa), and spread over the Great Zemelskaya 

 tundra northwards, without going round by Ust Zylma. The full title 

 and reference to the above-mentioned work is as follows : — "Materials 

 for forming a Biography of the Birds of the Volga," being Chapters II., 

 III., and IV. of Part 1, vol. i. of ' Descriptive Catalogue of the High 

 School of the Imperial University of Kasan.' Edited by ]\IM. Kova- 

 levsky, Levakovsky, Golovinski, and Bogdauofl'. Kasan : 1871. 



