i6o TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



rest Alston and I took our stick-guns and repaired to the 

 woods. After three hours' ' chasse ' Alston brought in four 

 or five Little Buntings, and I the same number of that 

 species, also one Eustic Bunting (our second example), 

 one Garden Warbler, one young Double or Great Snipe, 

 and a Warbler similar to or the same as our Willow 

 Warbler. We heard the low sweet warble of the Little 

 Bunting, and also its sharp call-note. I shot a male, and 

 the female came within three yards of me, flying so close 

 round that for quite half an hour I could not shoot for 

 fear of spoiling it. I saw also two Great Spotted or Pied 

 Woodpeckers, fired at them, but missed, and thereafter I 

 increased my charge of powder. 



A hunter, named Vassili (= William), brought in 

 young Willow Grouse (Kouropatki) , young Capercaillie, 

 and Black-game, and a basket of game. We bought the 

 young birds, or ' youngish/ as Nicholai calls them, in his 

 ' harbour English,' but none of the others. We engaged 

 Vassili at a rouble a day as long so we remain here. 

 This is evidently a good locality for small birds. 



Nicholai killed a nice Pike in the river with a stone, 

 and shot a male Bullfinch of the large race. 



For the rest of the day, all of us including Carl were 

 occupied skinning, and we added 25 to our previous list 

 of 135 before six o'clock. 



At 10.30 p.m. we started for Lake Ijma, a distance of 

 eight versts, through great forest much frequented by 

 Bears. Soon after we started I shot a young Hare. We 

 walked very fast all the way, doing the eight versts 

 equivalent to six miles English in an hour and a half. 



When close to the lake, where there is a small village 

 inhabited by members of a religious sect called ' Old 

 Believers ' (see Hepworth Dixon's ' Free Kussia '), 

 Piottuch pointing forward in a state of great excitement 

 said, ' Plus vit, monsieur, plus vit ! ' And Carl, who was 



