100



Bird and, nature notes in Russia.



It was a fine plump bird of nomadic habits, sometimes called a

Scrub Pigeon, though its hunting ground was mainly in the open

forest. It was a good friend to the thirsty traveller in dry country,

for it drank about sundown, and its flight consequently directed him

to water.



BIRD AND NATURE NOTES IN RUSSIA.


By Charles J. Renshaw, M.D.


The railway to Moscow has required very little engineering

skill in building; with the exception of a few bridges there is

nothing of moment; occasional farm-houses and villages are seen as

the train rushes eastward, then a deserted moated grange is passed,

then forests, chiefly of silver birch, but not of large growth, pine-

woods occasionally; in one place a Fox was startled by the sound

of the train. A dense forest was seen, to which a Wolf was skulking

home; a lagoon came in sight, in which the silent Stork was watch¬

ing for its prey. As the day advanced, a few beautiful Cross-bills

were seen perched upon the telegraph wires ; they took no notice of

us as we passed. There seemed very little bird-life, except the Grey

and Black Rook,' ;: which in Russia to a great extent takes the place

of our black one. Mole-hills we saw everywhere, and one of the

travellers averred that they were of a different shape from those in

England.


In the summer the people start very early for market, going

together in numbers as mutual protection ; and very gay and well

dressed they look. The congregating together is a survival of the

time when Wolves in some numbers frequented the land near the

forest; Wolves even now attack isolated parties at the approach of

winter.



* I.e. the Grey Crow (Corvus cornix). Fleet-Surgeon Jones, writing in the IbU for

July, 1909, observes of the country round Omsk : “ The Grey Crows con¬

tinued to be plentiful; even in the marsh-land they did not diminish much.”

He notes further seeing Grey Crows and Black Kites in Moscow itself.—G. R.



