CHAP. iv. SIBERIAN JAY. 37 



some opportunity of watching their habits. They were not 

 at all shy, and were fond of perching upon or clinging to 

 the trunks of the pines, and sometimes we saw them run up 

 the stems like a woodpecker. The song was by no means 

 unmusical, a low warble like that of the starling, but not so 

 harsh. These birds are early breeders, and the song is 

 probably discontinued soon after incubation has begun, as 

 we did not hear it afterwards, though we frequently came 

 across the birds. Out of the five birds which we shot only 

 one proved to be a female, with the ovary very small. 

 There were a few snow-buntings always to be seen, but we 

 did not think it worth while wasting powder and shot upon 

 them, as we had selected a score of handsome birds out of a 

 lot brought to one of the stations by a peasant who had 

 snared them. We could have bought almost any quantity 

 alive or dead at ten kopecks the score. I shot one by acci- 

 dent as it was feeding under a larch-tree in company with 

 a Siberian jay, a couple of bullfinches, and half-a-dozen 

 other snow-buntings, and a few red poles. Harvie-Brown 

 shot another as it sat perched upon the branch of a larch, 

 in order to be able to produce the skin of a bird shot 

 perching, as the fact that they do ever perch in trees has 

 been disputed. We had abundant opportunity of seeing 

 these birds in trees. We saw as many as three or four in 

 one tree at the same time, and frequently observed them 

 fly from one tree to another. We saw plenty of bull- 

 finches,* and shot five males in brilliant plumage. They 



* The Northern bullfinch (Pyrrhula 

 rubicilla, Pallas) differs from the com- 

 mon bullfinch in being somewhat larger, 



in having a stouter bill, and in having 

 the red of the und,er parts more scarlet 

 in colour. It is not known to have 



