vi PREFACE 



come to be made ' by some younger man than himself East 

 of the White Sea.' Amongst those, he mentioned the 

 eggs of the Little Stint and Grey Plover. For years, I 

 gathered up all the information I could lay hands upon, 

 which bore directly or indirectly upon these more distant 

 hunting-grounds. I dreamed of them by night and even 

 betimes by day. 



In 1871, but not till then, my first preliminary canter 

 was made in the charming companionship of my friend, 

 the late Edward B. Alston, to Norway. Then more 

 dreams were dreamed, and even future plans plotted out, 

 and in the same way more accumulations of preliminary 

 materials were made. 



Amongst these, plans were formed to revisit the fringe 

 of Wolley's country, and work eastward into the Kola 

 Peninsula ; and we were greatly assisted by many kindly 

 Brethren of the B. 0. U. Professor Newton, H. E. 

 Dresser, and others. But that dream proved strongest 

 which repeatedly beckoned us and said : ' Eastward ; 

 further eastward ; ' and at last, the Delta of the Dvina 

 and Archangel ' East of the White Sea/ was decided 

 upon as one step at least in the right direction ; and in 

 1872, Alston and I were again afoot, this time among the 

 many islands of the Dvina Delta ; and many happy weeks 

 were spent there. But ' Eastward still,' only rang louder 

 in our ears or postured in our dreams, when we seemed 

 at last, merely to touch the fringe of the nesting distribu- 

 tion of the Little Stint, by obtaining a specimen or two 

 in full breeding plumage on the furthest outer islands of 

 the Delta. Ah ! only passing migrants going ' Eastward 

 still ' ! 



Again, eagerly we collected scraps of information at 

 all hands good, bad, indifferent ; and dreamed again. 



But not till 1875, were my dreams brought to some 

 extent at least to fruition. In 1874, an old and trusty 



