FETCH OR A 399 



July 4. 



On Sunday, the 4th of July, a peasant found another 

 Swan's nest with four eggs, and it was arranged, not 

 without some misgivings on our part, to let ' Cock- 

 sure P.' try to secure the bird, and at 3 p.m. he 

 started for the nest with a guide. 



At 4 p.m., after a morning's blowing of eggs, we 

 Bailed over to Bougre to renew our search for Skuas and 

 Grey Plovers. 



Just on landing I shot a ? Black Scoter off her nest, 

 which contained seven eggs. 



On the tundra some time afterwards Seebohm and 

 I both lay down and succeeded in watching a Skua to her 

 nest. We were lying 150 or 200 yards apart, and, as 

 it afterwards turned out, the lines from our respective 

 places formed an obtuse angle with one another at the 

 nest. The bird flew round, every now and then alighting 

 at different places. At the place where the nest was 

 the bird was seen to alight four times and crouch 

 down, apparently first re-arranging the eggs with her 

 bill. She always flew direct to and alighted upon the 

 nest. We gave her plenty of time, and when she alighted 

 the fourth time we both started up and ran direct to the 

 spot. Neither of us was more than a yard out of our 

 direct bearings. 



I lined the spot by a distant point of an island on 

 the river, and Seebohm by levelling his gun at it. I 

 shot the bird, which to our chagrin turned out only 

 a Kichardson's (Arctic) Skua after all. 



A Grey Plover's nest with three eggs was found in 

 precisely the same way by Seebohm and myself and 

 Feodor, each of us at the same time rising and going 

 straight to the nest. Seebohm shot the female. 



To-night the men brought in eggs of the Siberian 

 Chiffchaff at last. The nest was the same as that of 



