n8 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



as possible, in a quiver of suppressed excitement, like a 

 cat preparing to spring. 



There were two eggs in the nest when we found 

 it at last. 



The Lapland bunting is a little yellow-billed bird, 

 with a black throat and a white boa, which never nests 

 with us, and has only been taken some half a hundred 

 times in England. But it is a very common bird indeed 

 on the tundra, and, with its plaintive little piping note, 

 was our constant companion. 



But luncheon-time came, and a^ain we cooked a w T illow- 

 grouse in a moss fire, and again with successful result. 



While I was sitting down and sketching the scene a 

 couple of geese flew over. I snatched up my gun and 

 dropped one of them. It was a male bean -goose, and 

 I am afraid the parent of the egg I found early in the 

 morningf. 



We had never before found such a pleasant camping 

 ground as this. 



From the little crevice in which we lay ran two dry 

 gullies, down which we could walk unseen to the pools 

 in which they ended. 



In one of these I shot a male long-tailed duck. He 

 had a very good tail, but was otherwise disappointing, for 

 his head was dark. So we ate him. Indeed, since 

 we left the sea, we have not seen a single male of this 

 species in full plumage. 



I have grown as tired of writing, as you, I am afraid, 



