the Birds of the Lowei' Petchora. 449 



ice, only a few acres of cultivated land around the village are 

 left uncovered. On all sides the ground slopes gradually away, 

 except on that side which faces the Kouria and the river. In 

 the distance across the Petchora to the westward, about fifty 

 versts distant, the low ranges of the Timan Mountains are 

 visible ; and we were told that many many versts of the inter- 

 vening willow-covered meadows were under water at the time 

 of our visit. Round the village is a cleared space of ground ; 

 and surrounding this there is a fine old forest of pine, larch, 

 and spruce, with underwood beneath. Some parts of the foi'cst 

 are open, especially those where pine alone appears to flourish, 

 light sandy soil forming a slightly higher ridge of land, covered 

 with a soft carpet of reindeer-moss, and sprinkled with crow- 

 berry, cranberry, and bilberry plants. All over these opener 

 pine -tracts lie great quantities of bleached and barkless frag- 

 ments of pine wood, the origin, no doubt, of the great piles 

 of drift wood along the shore at Dvoinik. They are accumu- 

 lating there until a higher flood than usual lifts and carries 

 them away. Other parts of the forest are denser and more 

 mixed. Many noble old larches are still untouched by the 

 axe ; but many more prostrate stems and high stumps leave 

 record of the ruthless and reckless destruction done and still 

 going on. The finest trees are cut down for firewood ; if, 

 after being felled, they are found unsound, they are left to 

 rot, or finally to drift away on some future flood "^. Small 

 spruce-firs comprise the bulk of the growth; but in some 

 places the larches are also quite abundant. In the swampy 

 places and along the river-side, on the edges of the pine- 

 forests, are dense thickets of alder and willow, amongst the 



* For statistics connected with the fuel-supply of Russia, in which the 

 statement is made that " within fifty-four years Russia's supply of timber 

 will be exhausted to the last faggot," see ' The Geographical Magazine ' 

 for March 1S7G, p. Gl. It is there stated that the total amount of timber 

 possessed by Russia at present is 198,354,000 dessatines (the dessatine being 

 equal to 2-^ English acres), and the annual consumption being 72,000,000 

 cubic sajois (a 8ajen = 7 English feet) for fii-ewood alone. To naturalists 

 in this connexion the question naturally presents itself, " Will the Smew 

 retreat before the axe, or adapt itself to another mode of nidification than 

 in hollow trees ? " 



