ttie Birds of the Luiver Petchora. 303 



two rubles if he found a nest with eggs. Ahnost immediately 

 Piottuch and I ran forward, he being a little in advance, and 

 in a trice we had three more young, a little older than the 

 last. Within fifteen yards of these last young a bird rose, 

 and again we ran forward together. ' Hurrah ! ! ' shouted 

 Piottuch, '^ Hurrah!! Monsieur, les oeufs !! les oeufs!!' — he 

 was the first to see them — and the next instant we were sitting 

 one on each side of the nest, the birds of both eggs and young 

 flying closely round us or alighting within twenty paces. 

 Seebohm came up ; and we all sat round the nest admiring it ; 

 Simeon had also come up ; and he caught the fourth young of 

 the second set. And the eggs ? Miniature Dunlin's, three 

 richly marked, and the fourth light and more faintly marked, 

 but also just like a variety of the Dunlin^s egg. And the 

 uest ? Rather untidy, rough and uneven round its edges, 

 very shallow, and sparingly lined with a few small leaves, 

 which may have been plucked by the bird as she sat on her 

 nest. Round it were masses of yellow sphagnum, dark green 

 leaves and empty calices of the arctic bramble, and a tuft of 

 round-stemmed Carex [Carex rarijiora). A little further off 

 were some, now flowerless, plants of the aromatic dwarf rho- 

 dodendron, bunches and patches of long white grass, and a 

 few single stems of the cotton-grasses. Both birds were shot 

 — the bird with the eggs and the parent of the four young. 

 The turf, a foot square, holding the nest was cut out carefully 

 with a knife, and the mass, including the plant of arctic 

 bramble, the yellow Sphagnum, and the tuft of round-stemmed 

 carex, placed carefully in a handkerchief, with a bit of cloth 

 rolled up and put into the nest to preserve its shape as much 

 as possible. The three old birds were put in paper bags, 

 ancl the bags carefully numbered 1, 2, and 3 (two young, 

 four young, and four eggs). It is worthy of remark that the 

 old birds did not hover in the air above the eggs or young, 

 as Temminck's Stint does, but only, as above described, flew 

 in small circles round us, alighting fearlessly close to us, and 

 never out of gun-shot.^' 



The following day, 23rd July, was a blank as regards Little 

 Stint^s eggs, although mc offered our men five rubles re- 

 ward for the nest and eggs, and all went on the search. 



