CHAP. xvii. BLACK SCOTER. 203 



ing to renew our search for eggs of Buffon's skua and grey 

 plover on the morrow. We turned to look towards the spot 

 of our encounter with the former : the whole flock had re- 

 turned to it ; they looked like great black terns on the wing 

 as they hovered over it, with their peculiar kestrel- or tern- 

 like flight. On several occasions after, we observed that the 

 skuas have many habits in common with the tern. 



The north-east wind continued blowing the next day, but 

 the sunshine was bright and warm. When evening came on 

 and the sun got low down in the horizon, for of course it 

 never set, the wind increased and we felt it very cold. 

 We spent our morning blowing eggs. In the afternoon we 

 sent Cocksure on another expedition after a swan, whose 

 nest with four eggs had been found and brought to us by 

 one of our men. Towards four we crossed the river to the 

 tundra. Our crazy old flat-bottomed boat could only sail 

 with the wind dead on her stern, so we had to row with 

 the stream for about a mile down the river, and then sail 

 up again with the wind. By the appearance of the sur- 

 rounding landscape we calculated that since we had last 

 been on that part of the Petchora, the water must have 

 fallen four feet at least. Some of the islands had doubled 

 in size, and sandbanks lay bare, that before we had sailed 

 over unsuspecting. We chose for our disembarkation a 

 spot near a deserted house called Boogree, and soon after 

 landing we shot a black scoter off her nest. It contained 

 six eggs and an abundance of down ; it lay in a little hollow 

 sloping towards the river, and was entirely concealed amongst 

 dwarf birch. The scoter does not breed apparently on 



