290 Messrs, H. Seebohm and J. A. Harvie Brown on 



Dvoinik they were plentiful among the sand-hills and on the 

 gravelly beach, and we occasionally met with them on the 

 tmidra some versts from the shore. 



^GIALITIS FLUVIATILIS (Beclist.), 



On the 8th June we obtained a single specimen of the 

 Little Ringed Plover at Ust Zylma. It was identified and 

 shot as it rose from_, and again alighted upon, a marshy, 

 hummocky strip of tundra-land near the town. Only one 

 or two other specimens were seen during our trip, one of 

 which was upon the tundra, at the edge of a small lake. It 

 is decidedly scarce, or else a late migrant not going far 

 to the northward in any numbers. 



HiEMATOPUS OSTRALEGUS (L.). 



Oystercatchers were first seen by us at Ust Zylma on the 

 26th May, where we also obtained eggs on the 8th June ; and 

 we found them afterwards in small numbers up to about 

 20 miles within the arctic circle. We did not find them 

 on the islands of the delta, or on the shores of the mainland 

 north of that point. 



Phalaropus hyperboreus (L.). 



We obtained the Red-necked Phalarope at its breeding- 

 haunts on the islands as we descended the river for the first 

 time on the 17th June; and the following day w^e got the 

 eggs on an island opposite Kuya. Afterwards we found them 

 extremely abundant upon all the islands, and in suitable loca- 

 lities upon the tundra, especially at Dvoinik. During the 

 last week in July at Dvoinik we found the Red-necked Pha- 

 larope in small flocks, consisting of birds in two distinct 

 stages of plumage. The new dress difl'ered from the usual 

 summer plumage in the following particulars : — The bill was 

 very soft and flexible, instead of being comparatively stifl" and 

 hard. The back of the legs and the under surface of the feet 

 were pale yellow ; the front of the legs and the upper sur- 

 face of the feet were a grey flesh- colour, whilst in the breed- 

 ing-plumage the legs and feet were a uniform dark lead- 

 colour, with a faint tinge of yellow on the margin of the 

 lobes. The primaries and the whole of the upper plumage 



