CHAP. xv. THE TUNDRA. 177 



upon it, and one of the pintail duck. With these were 

 brought two widgeon's eggs. The weather continued very 

 cold ; the Petchora looked sullen and tempestuous under the 

 dark sky and bleak wind. The next day we again kept 

 indoors, profiting by our enforced captivity in having a 

 general overhauling of our skins. We found the Siberian 

 chiff-chaff the commonest warbler amongst the willows of 

 Alexievka. Its note is a " ching-chevy " repeated three or 

 four times in rapid succession, the accent laid on the 

 "ching," and the warble generally, but not always, ending 

 with a final " ching." Probably owing to the coldness of the 

 weather we did not then hear it in full song, as we had at Ust- 

 Zylma and Habariki. We found Buffon's skuas numerous in 

 Alexievka ; they were usually in flocks of five or six. There 

 seemed to be only one common sparrow in the place, and 

 this I shot. 



The 22nd of June was inscribed in our journal as a red- 

 letter day. We were dead tired when we turned into our 

 hammocks at half-past ten the night before, and slept the 

 clock round and an hour over, rising at half-past eleven. 

 When we woke we found it was a bright warm day, the 

 wind had dropped, and the great river looked no longer 

 like an angry sea. W"e decided to cross it, ordered our men 

 to get the boat ready, made a hasty breakfast, and set sail 

 at last for the land of promise, the mysterious Tundra, the 

 Aarka Ya of the Samoyedes, the Bolshya Zemlia of the 

 Kussians. We pictured this great land to ourselves as a 

 sort of ornithological Cathay, where all sorts of rare and 

 possibly unknown birds might be found. So far we were 



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