92 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. CHAP. ix. 



brought in to us, apparently just killed. A white-tailed eagle, 

 his white tail looking grey against the snow, was perching on 

 an ice block in the Petchora ; and at a little distance off we 

 could distinctly see a raven picking a bone. Morning and 

 evening we watched the gulls, without being able to get a 

 shot at them. The redpoles had disappeared altogether, 

 and we saw the snow-buntings only once or twice. The 

 signs of coming summer were surrounding us, small flies 

 were on the wing, twice we came upon a tortoise-shell 

 butterfly ; we visited the magpie's nest, which we had dis- 

 covered some days previously in a pine-tree, and found that 

 it contained seven eggs. But even the approach of summer 

 has its accompanying drawbacks : we had to give up at this 

 time all hope of more winter posts, and two months might 

 elapse before the summer ones would arrive. This break in 

 the communication with civilised Europe is one of the 

 sorest trials to be endured by explorers in these districts. 



The little spurt of mild weather, however, turned out to 

 be a delusion. Our six species of summer migrants proved 

 no more reliable than Sancho Panza's solitary swallow. On 

 the 13th a strong gale from the north brought winter back 

 again, and drove away our newly arrived visitors to more 

 genial latitudes. The snow-buntings and the shore-larks 

 became very wild during this spell of bitter wind ; towards 

 evening it dropped, and when we came in upon a flock of 

 the former, they were so tame that they allowed us to walk 

 about, within ten and sometimes five yards of them. The 

 flock was composed mostly of females ; one male, that we 

 observed amongst them, was in more mature plumage than 



