CHAP. XIV. 



LONG-TAILED DUCK. 171 



a pintail, shooting the bird as she was flying off. We found 



also those of the red-necked phalarope, the great snipe, and 



the reed-bunting. Our most exciting nest-discovery was 



that of a swan. It was a large nest, containing three eggs, 



made of coarse grass, lined with a little down and a few 



feathers. It was placed upon a bank between two marshes, 



half concealed by willow-scrub. The most interesting birds 



we shot were a black scoter, a herring-gull, and a long-tailed 



duck,* the first we had yet seen on our travels. Its cry was 



not unlike the word " colguief." Of all species of ducks, it 



is the tamest and yet one of the most difficult to shoot, for 



it is an expert at diving, and eludes the sportsman's aim by 



its rapid and repeated plunges under the surface of the 



water. 



Just before reaching Alexievka, we anchored for an hour 

 at another island, about which seven swans were sailing. 

 The graceful birds, however, did not give us the chance 

 of a shot. Upon this island we had an excellent view 

 of our first great black-backed gulls,f and also of Buffon's 



* The long-tailed duck {Harclda 

 glacialis, Linn.) is a circumpolar bird, 

 breeding north of the Arctic circle, 

 principally on the tundras above the 

 limit of forest growth. In the British 

 Islands it is only a winter visitant, 

 being found also in various parts of 

 Central Europe, rarely, if ever, stray- 



coasts. In the valley of the Petchora 

 we found it as far north as latitude 

 68J°, but it was one of the few birds 

 we met with which escaped our notice 

 at Ust-Zylma during the period of mi- 

 gration. These birds probably do not 

 fly across country, but follow the coast 

 line. 



ing as far as the basin of the Mediter- j f The great black - backed gull 



ranean. The Siberian birds appear 

 to winter in Japan and in America; it 

 wanders down to the great central 

 lakes and to similar latitudes on both 



(Larus marinus, Linn.) is also a circum- 

 polar bird, breeding in a more southern 

 latitude than its congeners, the glau- 

 cous gull and the Siberian herring- 



