On Birds observed on. the Yenisei River. 489 



XLIII. — Further Notes on Birds observed on the Yenisei 

 River, Siberia"^. By H, Leyborne Popham, M.A. 



During my second journey to the Yenisei River in the 

 summer of 1895 I either failed to find the nests, or was too 

 late for the eggs, of several interesting hirds, among them 

 being Tringa subarquata, Calidris arenaria, &c. I therefore 

 determined to take the first opportunity of renewing my 

 acquaintance with the birds of the Yenisei district, and this 

 opportunity occurred last year (1897). A sea-steamer, the 

 * Dolphin/ had been sent up the river to Yeniseisk in 1896, 

 and being of more draught than was convenient, she was under 

 orders to return down the stream as early as possible in the 

 following spring, before the river fell to its summer level. 

 My brother kindly placed this vessel at my disposal until the 

 expedition sent out by him from England through the Kara 

 Sea should arrive at the mouth of the river; and as I should 

 thereby be enabled to proceed farther down the estuary than 

 is possible in the Siberian trading- steamers, I thought such 

 an exceptional chance of visiting a district hitherto un- 

 explored in the nesting-season must not be missed. Accord- 

 ingly I left London on April 12tli, accompanied by my 

 younger brother, and McGarry as bird-skinner. In 1895 I 

 had been assisted by Mr. C. Boyce Hill, but this year I was 

 obliged to do all my work alone, for I was unfortunate 

 enough to lose the assistance of my brother at St. Petersburg, 

 owing to illness which compelled him to return home. With 

 his help my collection might have been almost doubled. 



We left Moscow on April 29th, arriving by rail at Kras- 

 noyarsk on May 8th, and by road at Yeniseisk three days 

 later. Here we saw that some of the early migrants had 

 already made their appearance, and that the ice on the river 

 had broken up a few days previously. I at once set to work 

 collecting specimens, and found that Fieldfares, Magpies, 

 and Crows were already nesting. By May 18th the river at 

 Yeniseisk was free from the drift-ice which comes down from 

 the Angara River about ten days after the Yenisei has broken 



* For former paper see ' Ibis,' 1897, pp. 89-108. 



