266 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



song, much more musical and varied than that of the 

 House Sparrow. 



Snow Buntings are extremely abundant, and to-day we 

 observed some going in pairs, though by far the larger 

 number are still keeping together in flocks. Yesterday 

 we saw and heard one singing freely, perched on a heap 

 of straw and manure. 



The Magpies are abundant, and as many as eight were 

 counted on the wing overhead at one time. Also Hooded 

 Crows, and we saw an occasional Raven. 



Redpolls are common, and the males are already 

 taking on the delicate rosy or carmine tinge on the 

 breast. We cannot make out quite whether there are 

 two species of Redpoll here, or, if only one, which it is 

 Mealy or Common. We appear to have procured both 

 the darker bird and a much whiter bird, but the latter 

 scarcely can be said to differ much from the other in size. 



Pigeons fly about the town, and are probably the 

 same as those at Archangel ; we have not yet procured 

 specimens. 



The Common House Sparrow we have not yet 

 identified with certainty, though I thought I saw one 

 the other day. At present they are very rare. 



Captain Robert Engel who is in M. SidorofFs employ 

 is a character, and, like many ' salts,' a rather wild one 

 on shore. He tucks into the best of good cheer, and 

 treats every one recklessly to champagne from the store 

 here. In one day he spent 50 roubles in champagne. 

 Yet there is much in his honest face to like, a straight- 

 forward look about the eyes, and he is a handsome and 

 powerful fellow, thirty-five years of age, with black, 

 straight hair, black eyes, ruddy, healthy-looking cheeks, 

 and black beard, and he stands about six feet in height. 

 He has travelled all over the seas in ships, lived five 

 years in Greenland, been at Hong-Kong, Jamaica, 



