YELLOW-BROWED WILLOW-WREN. 447 
had six feet of snow on the ground until the first of June. The sun was 
burning hot; but it generally froze hard in the shade. Very few migratory 
birds had arrived. The Snow-Buntings and the Mealy Redpoles (thick- 
billed seed-eating birds), and the Hen-Harrier, the Peregrine Falcon, the 
Merlin, and the Sparrow-Hawk (hook-billed Bunting- and Redpole-eating 
birds) were almost the only representatives of the many summer visitors 
which flock annually in countless thousands to the tundra to breed. 
Flocks of Geese and Swans had passed over, it is true, during the last half 
of May whenever a thaw had commenced ; but the returning frost soon 
drove them back again, and to all intents and purposes it was midwinter, 
Summer, in league with the sun, had been fighting winter and the north 
wind for months, but was hopelessly beaten, until, on the 2nd of June, she 
formed an alliance with the south wind, and the great annual battle of the 
Yenesay—the great event of the year in these regions, like the rising of the 
Nile in Egypt—the battle between summer and winter began, and raged 
for about a fortnight. The snow melted down south so rapidly, and the 
great river rose so suddenly, that it began to flow up all its tributaries in 
the north. The ice broke up suddenly ; thousands of acres were marched 
up stream and then marched back again. Ice-floes were driven against 
islands and promontories and piled up into broken masses, which froze 
together and came down in the shape of icebergs when the river rose high 
enough to float them. The brilliantly clear skies to which we had become 
accustomed changed to stormy clouds, followed by drizzling rain and mist. 
All nature seemed to share in the excitement. The revolution in the ice 
took place to the accompaniment of a perfect babel of birds. Above our 
heads we continually heard the gag gag of Geese and the harsh bark of 
Swans, as flock after flock hurried past us to the tundra. Wherever there 
was a little open water between the ice-floes and the pack-ice, crowds of 
Gulls were fishing as if they had not had a meal for a week; and their 
derisive laugh, as they quarrelled over their prey, seemed to mock our 
misfortunes as we struggled to save our half-wrecked ship: whilst ever 
and anon the wild weird cries of the Black-throated and Red-throated 
Divers, like the distant scream of tortured children, came from the creek 
opposite. Flocks of Ducks arrived; and Bramblings and Shore-Larks 
came in small parties. 
The next day White Wagtails and Wheatears were seen running on the 
snow which covered the ice-floes ; and on the 4th the willows and birches 
on the steep banks of the river, where the snow had melted, abounded with 
Warblers, amongst which I found the Willow-Warbler, the Siberian 
Chiffchaff, and the Yellow-browed Warbler. 
It was very difficult to get about in the melting snow ; but in the willows 
on the steep bank of the river little birds were feeding, industriously 
picking up insects on the naked branches, and sometimes making little 
