Dr. O. Finsch's Ornithological Letters. 63 



Besides^ the niglits were again dark^ and often we were unable 

 to proceed ; even tlie weather was often cold and bad, and 

 rains fell just as in the late autumn in Germany. So the 

 distance we had gone down the river in eight days we re- 

 quired twenty-three days to pull the lotka against the stream, 

 and did not reach Berezoff before the 12th, the village of 

 Samarowa not until tlie 26tli of September. The river had 

 changed its appearance a great deal, as well as the whole 

 landscape. Silent arms into which we had gone formerly 

 were dried up, or had not water enough, except for Geese 

 and Ducks ; and the high right bank, formerly touched by 

 the water of the rivei', was bordered by a broad strand of sand 

 or clay, covered with enormous masses of drift wood. Large 

 banks of sand had made their appearence, and sometimes di- 

 vided the stream for long distances into two smaller arms. 

 The foliage of the woods was wrapped in autumnal dress ; 

 the yellow and orange of the birch trees was varied by the red 

 of the poplar and several smaller trees, intermixed with the 

 light green of the larch [Larioc] and the dark black-green of 

 pine and cedar woods. So the view of the landscape was 

 everywhere magnificent, and one could look at it for hours, 

 even if the ornithological life sometimes was very poor, some- 

 times for a long while not a bird being seen. We had to 

 land twice a day, in order to cook our meals, on a small Os- 

 tiakian yurt-place, or where we found it most convenient ; 

 there was now no want of wood. Every time we went on 

 shore we went hunting for some hours, as, fortunately, mos- 

 quitos were no longer present. The woods sometimes are 

 impenetrable, so thick is the growth of the trees, the multi- 

 tude of broken trees and twigs. Generally the interior of 

 the woods was silent, although we observed more birds than 

 when we went down the river. At that time the birds were 

 breeding, and so hid themselves more in the immense scrub 

 and thickets, and were less visible than now, when they 

 had more or less united in flocks preparatory to migration. 

 We observed nearly all the birds we had seen on the trip 

 down, except the Swallows and the Cuckoo, which had gone 

 already. The call of the latter we had heard up to the 



