184 SIBERIA IN EUROPE. CHAP. xv. 



disappointment which we still experienced, was now com- 

 pletely gone. The grey plover eggs alone would have 

 made our trip a success. They were unquestionably the first 

 that had ever been taken in Europe. We spent the next 

 two days in blowing our eggs and writing up our jour- 

 nals, occasionally strolling out among the willows on the 

 island, to bag a few yellow-headed wagtails and other birds 

 to keep Piottuch employed. We found that the swans' 

 eggs that we had brought from Kuya were perfectly fresh. 

 The eggs of the bean-goose, on the contrary, some of them 

 more than a week old, were mostly considerably incubated. 

 The ducks' eggs were all fresh, or nearly so. Most of these 

 were widgeon's, pale cream-coloured eggs ; the down large, 

 dark brown, very distinctly tipped with white and with pale 

 whitish centres. The red-throated pipits' and Lapland bun- 

 tings' eggs were, many of them, too much sat upon to be 

 easily blown, as were also the dunlins' eggs. The eggs of 

 Temminck's stint, red-necked phalarope, yellow-headed wag- 

 tail, and most of the redpoles were all fresh or very slightly 

 sat upon. The eggs of the gulls, both those of the common 

 species and of the Arctic herring-gull, were quite fresh, 

 whilst those of the Arctic tern were, some fresh, and some 

 considerably incubated. During these two days we found 

 several nests of the fieldfare on the island, a nest of the 

 willow-warbler and one of the yellow-headed wagtail. The 

 latter was on the ground, concealed amongst the old tangled 

 grass, which the floods had twisted round a stake. It was 

 principally composed of dry herbage, with one or two 

 feathers in the lining. Our two rarse aves, which we 



