216 Mr. H. J. Pearsvon on Birds 



saw three or four more old birds about, but^ from the number 

 of swan-mounds, we should think they must have beeu more 

 plentiful some years ago. Since the Russians have provided 

 the Samoyeds with better guns the large birds cannot have 

 had such a happy time here. 



~ 10. Harelda glacialis. Long-tailed Duck. 



Very numerous about the Gobista. They appear to breed 

 oil the tundra, but the nests are difficult to find. We only 

 took one (eight). 



J .11. Somateria spectabilis. King-Eider. 



A number of males and several females were seen about 

 the mouth of the Gobista, but no eggs obtained. We found 

 one old nest on the tundra, from which the young had been 

 recently hatched ; it was more than a mile from the river. 



12. Mergus merganser. Goosander. 

 Several pairs seen. 



i 13. Lagopus albus. Willow-Grouse. 



Fairly numerous, but the cocks were as wild as Grouse on 

 a Scotch moor at the end of the season. The females sit 

 close, and the only nest we found was by nearly walking 

 over the old bird. There were 14 eggs (much incubated), 

 the largest clutch we have taken of this species. 



-/-14. Squatarola helvetica. Grey Plover. 



The discovery of these eggs has been so well described by 

 Seebohra and Harvie-Brown in their paper in 'The Ibis,^ 

 that we have little to add. We feel sure, however, that our 

 brother ornithologists will sympathize with our glow of 

 pleasure and even our wild war-dance on finding our first 

 nest containing a clutch of four beautiful eggs. And, indeed, 

 both glow and dance were needed, for few things are more 

 calculated to chill enthusiasm and unpleasantly lower one^s 

 temperature than watching, for 50 minutes in a piercing wind 

 and sleet, even a Grey Plover to its nest. We took in all seven 

 clutches of eggs (four, four, four, four, four, one, and three re- 

 spectively) . The first two were fairly fresh. In the third and 

 fourth the chicks were calling and their beaks partly through 



