Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 7 



Cyanecula suecica (Linn.). 



I found the Blue-throated Warbler very common in the 

 valley of the Yen-e-say'. It was amongst the earliest insect- 

 eating birds to arrive at our winter-quarters. I shot several 

 on the 5th of June. For a week or two they were very com- 

 mon ; but as the snow on the tundra melted they gradually 

 left us, only a few remaining to breed. I lost sight of the 

 Blue-throat in lat. 71°. 



Nemura cyanura (Pall.). 



Curiously enough the first Warbler I shot on the Yen- 

 e-say' was the Blue-rumped Warbler. It was, of course, 

 only an accidental straggler, who had strayed away from his 

 companions and reached the Arctic circle before his time. 

 It was the 21st of May, a bitterly cold day, no sunshine, a 

 sou^-west wind, but nevertheless a keen frost. I did not turn 

 out in the morning ; but in the afternoon I put on my snow- 

 shoes and had a round through the forest. There was hardly 

 a bird to be seen ; but as I was returning to the ship I caught 

 sight of a little bird flitting about from tree to tree, apparently 

 seeking insects on the trunks below the level of the surface 

 of the snow in the hollows round the stems, caused by the 

 heat of the sun absorbed by their dark surfaces. It gave me 

 a long chase, flying rapidly, but never rising higher than three 

 or four feet above the level of the snow. At last I got a 

 long shot at it. It was alive when I secured it ; and I re- 

 marked its brilliant, large, pale, blood-red eye. The legs 

 were brown, and the bill nearly black. I shot a second ex- 

 ample on the 14th of June; it was busily engaged in search- 

 ing for insects, principally at the roots of trees. This was 

 all I saw of this bird. Both my birds are males, but not in 

 the fine metallic blue plumage which old birds attain. I was 

 probably at the extreme limit of this bird^s northern range. 



Calliope camtchatkensis (Gmel.). 



I only met with this very handsome bird once within the 

 Arctic cii'cle. This was on the 14th of June, whilst the ice 

 was still straggling down the river. Early in the morning, 

 before breakfast. Blue-throats were singing lustily. One bird 



