156 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



cotton-grass and long reed, intersect the forest at regular 

 intervals. A small sour red berry (cranberry) grows in 

 these marshes, and is good for food, Nicholai and I par- 

 taking of them plentifully. 



We left Laidi Ostrov about 9 p.m. and sailed for 

 Tscheike Ostrov to search again for the Stints, which we 

 had seen so many of on our last trip. We arrived there at 

 night, and rigged up a tent with the boat-sail, our ground 

 sheet, etc., and had ' tchai.' 



June 29. 



On Saturday, the 29th of June, Nicholai having found 

 two nests (or 'two stook,' as he calls everything), each 

 of four eggs, of the Stint. Alston and I took our guns 

 and went to shoot the birds so as to make sure that there 

 were only Temminck's Stints breeding here. I shot two 

 birds and Alston one, all from the nests. Two of them 

 we proved to be males. We then found four other nests, 

 each with four eggs, and were able in every case to 

 identify the birds as Temminck's Stints. We have, there- 

 fore, come to the conclusion that no Little Stints breed 

 here, although one specimen was obtained on a former 

 occasion. Our ammunition was now nearly done, and as one 

 of our party (Ernst Craemers) was suffering badly from 

 toothache, we decided to run for Archangel, which we 

 reached about six or seven o'clock, after starting from the 

 island about 12 noon. 



June 30. 



On Sunday, the 30th of June, the shoemaker brought us 

 the two pairs of long boots which we ordered on Monday 

 last. They cost us 15 roubles a pair, equivalent to 

 37s. 2d., and are cheap. Mr. Birse sent round also a 

 huge packing-case for our spoils, about 4J feet long by 2J 

 wide by 2J deep, which should hold some hundreds of 

 birds. 



Yesterday evening it rained heavily, but to-day again it 



