i 4 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV ' 



a bit or two of birch bark (but very little), and covered 

 outside with moss and lichen, and lined with willow-down 

 — contained seven eggs. 



' Now we entered a colony of fieldfares. The nests 

 (low down in birch trees), of which I examined several, 

 were in each case entirely composed of grasses and twigs 

 kneaded in with mud ; the lining entirely of soft grasses. 

 They were deeper than those of the mistle thrush, and 

 rather less untidy outside. I took clutches of six, five, 

 and four eggs. The birds were shy ; none of them 

 mobbed us in the least. On the whole they kept away, 

 only now and then a bird would come and scream, peer- 

 ing through the bushes from about fifteen yards off. Of 

 redwings we saw none. 



' On the shore near two houses were the remains of a 

 stranded whale. It was thoroughly well used up. The 

 pelvis formed a seat, the ribs served as rollers for the 

 boat, and the vertebral centra as tackle-blocks. 



' Of the many flowers we saw I identified only 

 Geranium sylvaticum, a yellow viola ( V. bifloi r (i) ; dog 

 violet ; cloudberry ; a ranunculus {R. acids), Caliha 

 palustris ; yellow trollius and a potentilla (P. verna). 



' Trout and salmon, as they seemed to be, were rising 

 everywhere as we rowed back, and when I turned in at 

 i a.m. a band was playing, gaily dressed girls were 

 rowing themselves about, people were fishing every- 

 where, and there was a picnic party across the 

 fjord.' 



