250 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



the young of a pair of white-fronted geese. Both the 

 old birds protected their young. The gander flew right 

 at the snowy.' 



' How do you mean at the snowy?' I asked, anxious 

 to get the facts correctly. 



'Well, sir,' says Hyland, 'he rose clean off the water 

 and struck at the owl with his wings. After this the 

 owl flew off' 



Although it seems that the snowy does not nest on 

 our island, they come there much on migration ; and a 

 day scarcely passed now without our seeing one or more 

 of these fine birds sitting" on a hummock of the peat. 

 As there are no lemmino-s or other small mammals here, 

 it follows that the bird is obliged to make its dinner of 

 fish and birds. 



In the evening I went for a long walk round by the 

 lakes, and returned in a dense fog. 



We found our first young Lapland bunting to-day. I 

 lay up for a long time by the big lake looking at the red- 

 throated divers. There were seven of these birds on 

 the lake, and they were all at play. 



We were now crowing rather anxious about our 

 water-supply. For the snow from which we got it was 

 rapidly going. 



July 23rd. — Another horrid day. It was not in reality 

 so very cold, for the thermometer rose at noon to 44° in 

 the sun. But a gale from the north-east and a soaking 



