Birds of Great Liakoff Island. 345 



Liakoff Island from the 6tli to the 15th of April, 1886, he 

 and his party employing twelve dog-sledges to perform the 

 journey. A month later he accompanied Boron Toll to 

 Kotelnyi, the largest of the New Siberian Islands, and 

 afterwards returned to Great Liakoff, leaving his companion 

 on the more northerly island to search for mammoth remains 

 and other objects of interest. In the middle of November 

 both the travellers recrossed the ice to the mainland. 



The following account of the birds observed by Dr. Bunge 

 during his stay upon Great Liakoff Island is compiled from 

 his journal. 



Great Liakoff Island lies ten degrees east of the delta 

 of the Lena, between 73° and 74-° N. lat. It is the most 

 southerly of the New Siberian Islands, and is connected with 

 the mainland by ice, which never entirely disappears. The 

 climate is cold, even in the middle of summer ; north winds 

 prevail, and bring down fog and sometimes snow-storms even 

 in July. The thermometer did not rise above freezing-point 

 until the 9th of June ; vegetation did not begin to appear 

 until the 19th, and insects were scarcely seen before the 

 22nd ; but summer began on the 28th, when the temperature 

 reached 50° in the shade. The highest point registered was 

 on the 26th of July, Avhen the thermometer stood at 55° in 

 the shade ; but a fortnight later summer was over, and 

 during the latter Lalf of August it frequently froze. After 

 the 17tliof September the thermometer only rose once above 

 freezing-point. 



The only trees are stunted wdllows ; the tundra is by no 

 means rich in flowers. Three groups of granite hills near 

 the coast, and one in the middle of the island, rise nearly a 

 thousand feet above the sea. In the hollows of these hills 

 large masses of snow and huge blocks of ice remain unmclted 

 throughout the summer. 



In winter the island is said to be absolutely deserted ; but 

 every summer it is visited by small parties of nomad Yakuts 

 and herds of wild reindeer, wolves, arctic foxes, and lemmings, 

 whilst seals and polar bears arc occasionally seen on the 

 coast. 



