the Birds of the Lower Petchora. 293 



the 12th June. Descending the river we saw Ruffs at their 

 ''hills" on the 17th June, and procured eggs as late as the 

 27th on an island opposite Stanavoialachta. Flocks of Ruffs 

 were seen frequenting the marshy estuary of a small river, on 

 the tundra opposite Alexievka, on the 9th July ; and the au- 

 tumn plumage was fully assumed by the 29th July, when we 

 shot a Ruff at Dvoinik out of a flock in the same plumage in 

 which they are shot in this country in September. Ruffs 

 and Reeves were abundant on the islands, but comparatively 

 scarce, or local, on the tundra. 



Tringa subarquata, Giild. 



During a short half-hour that we visited Dvoinik, on the 

 occasion of our first visit, Seebohm succeeded in securing a 

 single example in full breeding-plumage, which was all we 

 saw of the Curlew Sandpiper, unless six or seven other birds, 

 which were feeding along with it at the time it was shot, 

 were of the same species. We obtained no definite clue to its 

 breeding-haunts ; but from the accounts we heard, conflicting 

 and untrustworthy as these often were, we gathered that 

 marshy plains and swamps of great extent lie along the 

 courses of the numerous rivers and small streams which flow 

 from the Pytkoff Mountains to the sea, to the north-eastward of 

 Dvoinik. Of this fair land of promise we were only permitted 

 to obtain a very distant and unsatisfactory view, as, on the 

 only occasion when we might have seen it had the air been 

 clear, from a height upon the tundra to the north of the inlet, 

 a white mist lay along the distant hollows, completely con- 

 cealing the features of the landscape. The Curlew- Sandpiper, 

 as we learn from ]Mr. Bogdanoff, is seen on the Volga and 

 Kama rivers during both migrations. 



Tringa cinclus, L. 



We did not see the Dunlin at all during the time of its 

 migration ; nor did we meet with it until the 22nd June, when 

 we landed for the first time on the tundra opposite Alexievka. 

 There we found a few pairs scattered over the grassy swamps, 

 and afterwards saw them in great numbers at Dvoinik and 

 on the Golaievskai islands. At the latter locahty immense 



