* 



42 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



them running about the tidal creeks till quite the begin- 

 ning of June and later, and then off they go, returning 

 with their young ones sometimes by the end of July. 

 Quick work that, when you consider where they have 

 been. 



And not very long ago no one could tell you where 

 they nested. Mr. Seebohm and Mr. Harvie-Brown 

 found out first, and since that time their eggs have been 

 taken nearer home. But never in England. So 

 naturally I looked at this little bird with much in- 

 terest. 



And we saw many dunlins. The dunlin is another 

 of our waders, but it nests with us. They were flying 

 up into the air and making a noise, as they slantingly 

 descended like big grasshoppers. This is one of their 

 courtship practices, and may be compared to the drum- 

 ming of snipe. 



The turnstone, too, was here in his lovely nesting 

 plumage and his orange-red legs. We do not often 

 see him in such fine feathers in this country. A large 

 proportion of those we have here in late summer or early 

 autumn are young birds with more sober colouring, and 

 the old birds then are fading too. For the turnstone 

 does not nest with us. It just gives us a look in when 

 passing north in May, and then later on its return south. 

 This lovely bird has a far more elaborate song than that 

 of any other wader I know. You really may call it a 

 song— I put it down at the time as ' Chewah, chewah, 



