246 TRAVELS OP A NATURALIST 



Wherever we stop to collect it is advisable that we 

 should call for the priests, as they alone will be able to 

 get the boys to bird's-nest for us. 



Viski was noted as a good place to stop and collect at. 

 There are numbers of small islands not marked in the 

 charts. There are high rocks on the Tundra, whence the 

 Samoyedes brought them eggs of two or three species 

 of Eagles. 



The Indigo Kiver on the coast of the Timanski Tundra 

 is most easily reached by boat from Mezen. The rocky 

 banks and coast are a continuation of the Timan 

 Mountains. 



Heinke and Hoffmansegg found on the Petchora all the 

 Gulls they found here at Archangel, and all they expected 

 to find. They did no writing, they only collected hard. 



At Ust Zylma they found the Rustic and the Little 

 Bunting, and on the islands the Yellow-breasted Bunting. 

 On small rivers, which run into the Petchora between Ust 

 Zylma and Kuja (or the delta), they found a bird which 

 Eichter calls ' Evolga,' breeding in willow thickets high 

 up in bushes or willows ' some red and some yellow ' 

 about the size of a small thrush ; longer and narrower than 

 a thrush, but otherwise resembling them. It is rare, only 

 found on the Petchora; never seen at Archangel. The 

 nest is like a thrush's.* 



All the islands are good for * Kuleeki ' (i.e., Terek Sand- 

 pipers), wherever small rivers run in and small bushes 

 or trees grow. Swans breed in the interior of the islands, 

 out of the track of the boats, in shallow marshes. Also 

 Cranes are common. 



Eichter lost his vessel once at Varandai, and in conse- 

 quence it took him a month to reach Kuja from that ; 

 but if we get Sidoroff's steamer the run can be accom- 

 plished in a short time. 



* We never could hear about this ' Evolga ' ! !. 



