;3 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



either a female or a bird of last year, stooped and picked 

 something- — a fish I suppose — out of the water. She sat 

 on the bank with the quarry under her foot for a minute or 

 two before skimming off, and a red-throated diver swam 

 backwards and forwards in front of her with its bill wide 

 open, as though daring her to come on again and steal 

 its lawful supper. Doubtless it was making a noise 

 of defiance, but we were too far off to hear. I saw the 

 details of the drama through my glass. 



This, the most lovely of all the owls, comes to us at 

 intervals. It has never been proved to have nested in 

 Britain in the wild state. An Arctic bird, I have seen 

 it frequently in Canada, and have described some of its 

 habits elsewhere. 1 This was the first time we had seen 

 it on Kolguev. 



To-day also we saw a white -billed northern diver 

 flying past. This bird I never saw again on the island. 

 The white-billed northern diver is quite distinct from 

 our bird. I consider its rarity in Kolguev most re- 

 markable ; for it is known to be a breeder in the lakes 

 of the mainland tundra. 



In the bank of a little brook we found a nest of the 

 red-throated pipit, which contained six eggs. The nest 

 was built entirely of grasses. No one, I think, could 

 mistake this bird for its British ally, the meadow-pipit 



We moved a grey goose off her nest of four eggs. I 

 believed her to be a bean iroose. 



1 Pictures in Prose: of Nature , Wild Sporty and Humble Life (Longmans, 1S94). 



