432 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



long time and sending Hyland round also with his gun, I had to 

 give it up. There is no possibility of confusing this with the golden 

 plover, even when on the wing. The call is quite different, and I 

 think the flight more powerful, and that is saying a good deal. The 

 skuas stood no chance with them. They actually seemed to both of 

 us to hit the skuas, wheeling round them and then, making a point 

 high above, they would drop down like a stone, literally knocking the 

 skuas out of time. The nest was a deep circular depression, and 

 contained nothing but the eggs and a little lichen.' 



In another nest on July 13 the eggs contained fully formed young 

 ones. From August 10 onwards there were immense flocks of these 

 birds constantly wheeling over the mud-flats. These birds behave very 

 differently at different times when nesting. Sometimes the hen-bird 

 feigns lameness, though I never saw the male do this. Often, however, 

 their actions exactly recall those of the stone-curlew, excepting that we 

 never found a male brooding the eggs. The male bird, who always sits 

 on some raised point at a little distance from the hen, gives, long before 

 you come up, an alarm signal to the hen, whereupon she runs off the 

 nest and joins him. The breasts of the males we shot were all equally 

 black, but those of the females varied a great deal. 



Strepsilas interpres (linn.). Turnstone. 



Severnaya-Kamnesharka (R.). Tu-ik (S.). 



June 17. 'Turnstones were, especially near the lakes, fairly numer- 

 ous. I am sure from their behaviour that some of the pairs had nests, 

 though we failed to find them. They were singing a very charming 

 little song which went, as I took it down at the time, ' Chiwah chiwah 

 chiweeki, ki ki ki, ki ki.' 



During the nesting season these birds are distributed far inland. 

 On July 12 I found four tiny young ones which 'ran out of the nest in 

 all directions.' The turnstone, like many of the waders, makes several 

 scrapings or false nests before it finally lays. 



While the reindeer-salting was going on at Scharok during the first 

 week in September, a pair of these birds were constantly occupied in 

 turning over the contents of the deers' paunches which lay about. 



