274 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. chai\ xxi. 



and missed. He followed her for some distance ; but she 

 kept just out of range, and finally flew away. We waited 

 about a quarter of an hour at the nest, talking and making 

 no effort to conceal ourselves, when she flew straight up and 

 alighted within easy shot, and I secured her. The little 

 stint seems to be a very quiet bird at the nest, quite different 

 from Temminck's stint. When you invade a colony of the 

 latter birds, especially if they have young, the parents 

 almost chase you from the spot — flying wildly round and 

 round, and crying vociferously, often perching upon a stake 

 or a tree, or hovering in the air and trilling. We observed 

 none of these habits in the little stint. So far as we saw, 

 only the female takes part in incubation, and only the 

 female is seen near the nest. On our way back to the 

 wreck we met with a party of sanderlings on the shore, 

 and shot two of them. No doubt these birds were breeding: 

 somewhere in the district. After a good dinner of willow- 

 grouse and a siesta of three hours, we started to take the 

 nest that Piottuch had marked. Whilst we had slept the 

 weather had changed. The mosquitoes had all gone. A 

 smart gale was blowing from the north, and a heavy sea was 

 breaking on the shore. It was cloudy, and dark, and cold, 

 with an attempt now and then at rain. The nest was a 

 couple of miles off, very near the shore of the inland sea, 

 but on somewhat similar ground — moss, cloudberry, grass, 

 &c. The eggs were intermediate in colour between those 

 of the other two nests. On our return to our quarters we 

 found that our Samoyede servant had caught a young little 

 stint, hall-grown, a very interesting bird. Like the young 



