PETCHORA 225 



my old friend Birse here, but his last letter showed that 

 he had changed his mind and would meet us at a much 

 later stage of our journey. We reached the seventeenth 

 station at 7.45 a.m. 



Along the eighteenth stage, which ended at 11.15 a.m., 

 we saw Crossbills, a great Spotted Woodpecker, a Jay, 

 and Marsh Tits.* We arrived at the left bank of the 

 Dvina, and for some distance drove along close above 

 the river, which bore a solid mass of ice covered with 

 dazzlingly white snow. 



We saw a flock of Snow Buntings on the nineteenth 

 stage, which we accomplished by 2.15 p.m. We reached 

 the twentieth station at 5.15 p.m., and the twenty-first at 

 7.15 p.m., when we stopped for dinner. 



March 17. 



I have no record of the time of reaching the twenty- 

 second station, but we arrived at the twenty-third at 

 1.20 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the 17th of March, at 

 the twenty-fourth station at 4 a.m., the 25th at 6.30 a.m., 

 and the twenty-sixth at 8.45 a.m. During the last two 

 stages, having had our traps better arranged, we both 

 managed to sleep comfortably. The weather continued 

 warm and cloudy, and the roads were a little soft. 



We saw distinctly a white-winged Crossbill (a green 

 $ ) and other Crossbills on the twenty-seventh stage, 

 which ended at 10 a.m. We reached the twenty-eighth 

 station at 12 noon, and the twenty-ninth at 2.30 p.m. 

 Here we found that the Government horses were all out, 

 taken by post. We bargained for three others at three 

 roubles not an overcharge, judging from my former 

 experience between Suzma and Archangel, in 1872. 



* The skins of the Marsh Tit obtained by us on this expedition were 

 considered to be of the Siberian form by Messrs. H. E. Dresser, 

 Howard Saunders, and H. Seebohm, when our collections were gone 

 through at Sheffield in September, 1875. 



VOL. I. l6 



