284 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



is most useful in detecting their hiding-places. He may 

 be seen when the chasse commences, peering inquiringly 

 into the crevices of the windows, and when he discovers 

 one he places his forefinger within an inch of it, grins, and 

 looks as if he were looking through a telescope. He 

 seldom laughs heartily, but Seebohm ' fetched ' him com- 

 pletely one morning. Piottuch discovered a ' B flat ' on 

 his shirt, and Seebohm promptly plumped him into a 

 small bottle of spirits which we have prepared for all such 

 'mixed pickles.' Our cook and purveyor went off in a 

 perfect roar of laughter. Such an exquisite death, he 

 thought, no doubt, for a B flat. 



[No entries for 2nd]. May 3. 



On Monday, the 3rd of May, we saw two Jackdaws, 

 the first we have observed at Ust Zylma, and Seebohm 

 succeeded in shooting one of them. 



May 4. 



To-day I fired into an immense flock of Snow Buntings 

 500 or more and killed 25. Of these 16 were picked 

 out to be skinned and carefully sexed, a task which 

 Piottuch accomplished, we also looking at the dissection. 



The males have all more or less a white collar, but only 

 two of those we got as yet have a pure white head. The 

 females have all more or less ochre on the crown of the 

 head, and all have the neck mottled, and in some the 

 ochre extends down the neck. The males have the centre 

 feather of the tail at least one-eighth of an inch longer, 

 and the same difference exists in the length of the wings 

 of the males over that of the wings of the females, of such 

 as we have examined. 



In the town not a Bunting is to be seen during the 

 thaw, but it is doubtful if this large flock consists of the 

 same individuals, as the proportion of younger birds in the 



