the Birds of the Lower Pet char a. 299 



out on the surface of the waters of the inlaud sea, or their 

 footprints detected on the damp sand or mud. The sand- 

 hills and gravelly ground were frequented by Ringed Dot- 

 terels, and the sea-shore by a few Sanderlings, Gulls, and 

 Arctic Terns. 



The inland sea is a large sheet of water connected with 

 the Petchora Gulf by a narrow channel between the two 

 low sand capes of Dvoinik, and is about 2| versts across in 

 any direction. It is surrounded by a strip of grassy meadow- 

 land on a gentle slope above high-tide mark, which is from 

 40 to 100 yards in width, except, as already mentioned, on 

 the seaward side, where it is replaced by the level meadow 

 with a different and coarser vegetation. The whole stretch 

 of this sloping meadow is covered with yellow grasses and 

 carices; and here and there over its surface are diminutive 

 plants of dwarf- willow [Salix glauca), considerable quantities 

 of wild leeks, and isolated patches of a species of Sphagnum. 

 Surrounding this, again, is the tundra, which, in some places, 

 rises abruptly in a great wall 6 or 8 feet high, and in others 

 slopes gently till it meets the meadow. At the latter points 

 the vegetation of the tundra proper is found to blend with 

 that of the meadow. A ridge of bleached and weather-worn 

 drift wood of all sizes — branches, huge trunks, and roots — 

 lies piled up close to the margin of the tundra; and small 

 pieces are strewn over the surface of the meadow. The high- 

 tide mark at the lower edge of the meadow is, in most places, 

 sharply defined, an abrupt bank, a foot or two in height, 

 having been formed by the action of the water. At low tide 

 about forty yards of the black ooze is exposed ; and upon this, 

 as already noted, flocks of Dunlins, Stints, and other Waders 

 are usually seen at feeding- time. 



The river Dvoinik runs into the inlet close to the sea, 

 flowing from a southerly and easterly direction. It is a 

 muddy still stream, with oozy bottom ; and the tide ascends 

 its tortuous course for several versts. The tundra on either 

 side dips sharply down, forming steep banks on the upper 

 reaches ; but these give place, near its confluence with the sea, 

 to low perpendicular banks cut through level meadow-land 



x2 



