at the Mouth of the Yenesei River. 397 



The Curlew-Sandpipers departed about August 15. Tlicy 

 did not come down to the riverside fiats and marshes 

 before migration, as did the Stints and Plovers, which bred 

 with them on the tundra. 



The Red-throated Pipits also had all disappeared by 

 August 15. This Pipit breeds rather late, but at Golchika 

 the young are fed by the parents long after they have left 

 the nest. I saw a bird with its bill full of mosquitoes on 

 August 7, and therefore the fledglings must have been 

 tended almost until the date of departure. 



The Arctic Tern and the Ked-necked Phalarope dis- 

 appeared (approximately) about August 18 ; but I saw 

 a solitary bird of the latter species swimming in the Yenesei 

 on August 26. The White Wagtail {Motacilla alba) and 

 Vv'^heatear were not observed at Golchika after August 20, 

 though two young birds of the former species were seen on 

 September 3 at Pustoy, seventy versts to the south. 



The departure of the second group of birds was, I think, 

 entirely due to the weather-conditions. On August 27 

 severe south-easterly gales set in and blew for six days, 

 \^ith frequent squalls of rain. During this time I con- 

 stantly saw small flights of Plovers and Stints passing 

 up the Yenesei. This storm drove away the Lapland 

 Buntings {Calcarius lopponicus), Snow-Buntiigs {Plectro- 

 phena.v nivalis), Buff's [Machetes pvgnax), Grey Plovers 

 {Squatarola squatarola), and Temminck^s Stints (Iritiffa 

 temminckii). It also disposed of the bulk of the Little 

 Stints [Tringa minuta) and Dunlins (Tj-inga alpina), thougli 

 I saw a few of these two species on September 2. Kinged 

 Plovers {^gialitis hiaticula) and Asiatic Golden Plovers 

 (Charadrius dominicus fulvus) were common until Sep- 

 tember 3, on which date I left the district. 



From the above notes it is obvious that, although food- 

 supply undoubtedly influenced the movements ot such species 

 as the Bed-throated Pipit, whose young are reared almost 

 entirely on mosquitoes, and possibly those of the Arctic 

 Tern (although on the Yenesei this tern does not live only 

 upon live food, but scavenges for offal round the fish- 



2e2 



