1 88 



SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP. XVI. 



was also frequently met with on the tundra, Lut not in any- 

 thing like the numbers in which we found it on the islands 

 of the delta. On the banks of the great river numerous 

 Siberian herring-gulls were slowly sailing past, and we shot 

 four. I shot a Richardson's skua,* which heedlessly flew 

 within range of my gun. This was the first example of this 

 species which we had yet seen. It was as white underneath 

 as the Buffon's skuas, but the centre tail-feathers were much 

 shorter. Curiously enough we never met with the dark- 

 bellied variety of Richardson's skua in the Petchora. It 

 must be the western form. I found it by far the commonest 

 variety in Finmark. We saw a few Arctic terns, and got 

 one egg. On the lakes the long-tailed duck was common, 

 and I shot two males. These birds are very quarrelsome, 

 and by no means so shy as the other ducks. My companion 

 identified a red-breasted merganser,f but did not succeed in 



* Richardson's skua (Stercorarius 

 crepidatus, Gmel.) we found upon 

 tlic tundra mingling with the large 

 flocks of Buffon's skuas, or scattered 

 in pairs over their breeding haunts. 

 Nowhere did we find them so abundant 

 as the latter species, of which we 

 obtained no eggs, though we found 

 several nests of the former. Richard- 

 son's skua is a circumpolar bird, 

 breeding upon most of the islands 

 of the Arctic Ocean. In winter it 

 di-tributes itself along the coasts of 

 Europe and Africa, extending eastwards 

 as far as Scinde. It has not been re- 

 corded from the western shores of the 

 Pacific, but it appears to )»■ fund on 

 both coasts of the American continent, 



occasionally wandering south of the 

 equator. 



f The red-breasted merganser (Mer- 

 rjtis serrator, Linn.) is also a circumpolar 

 bird, breeding throughout the Arctic 

 regions and in the northern portion of 

 the temperate zone. In the British 

 Islands it breeds in Scotland, and is 

 frequently met with in winter in most 

 I s of England. The European birds 

 winter in the south, rarely, if ever, 

 crossing the Mediterranean. The Sibe- 

 rian birds winter in China and Japan, 

 and the North American examples 

 retire to the Southern States. The 

 first bird of this species was seen by 

 Ilarvie - Brown at the lakes on the 

 tundra to the south of the Yooshina 



