LITTLE STINT. 207 



The rafts which bring down the timber from the interior also frequently 

 require help when the water of the Petchora begins to subside ; and, for 

 these and other purposes connected with the business of the company, a 

 steamer is kept at Alexievka during the few summer months of the year. 

 The beacons on the Golievski banks are washed away every spring by the 

 ice ; and on the 13th of July Captain Engel invited us to accompany him 

 on his annual trip to replace or repair them. We gladly seized Jhe oppor- 

 tunity, and spent about four hours on island No. 4 and a couple of hours 

 on island No. 3. The former island, and as much of the latter as our 

 limited time enabled us to explore, consists of barren sand-banks without 

 a blade of grass upon them. Nevertheless we found them frequented 

 by large flocks of Dunlins and small parties of Sanderlings, which were 

 feeding at the water's edge and in the shallow pools left by the tide. They 

 were very wild, and we had some difficulty in getting within shot. 



We left the islands deeply lamenting our inability to explore them 

 further ; and having dropped a carrabas on the William Bank, and a long 

 pole, with a besom on the top and a large stone at the bottom, upon 

 the Alexander Bank, we passed Cape Constantinovka, and cast anchor 

 at Dvoinik, or " the twin capes." The beacon on the promontory had 

 been destroyed by the Samoyedes ; and a new one had to be erected, 

 which gave us a couple of hours to explore the country. As soon as we 

 landed we struck out at once to the tundra. We had not gone far 

 before we came upon what we at once recognized as Grey- Plover ground ; 

 and we very soon heard the familiar cry of a pair of these birds, who 

 showed by their actions that they had eggs or young near. Harvie- 

 Brown stopped to watch them, and I went on alone ; but finding that the 

 character of the tundra did not vary much as far as the eye could reach, 

 I turned sharp to the north towards a range of sand-hills lying between the 

 sea and a number of lakes. As soon as I reached the nearest of these 

 lakes I caught sight of a large flock of Sandpipers flying up and down the 

 bank. They were very wild ; but by hiding amongst some dwarf willows 

 in a cleft of the edge of the tundra, I succeeded in getting a shot at them 

 and dropped three to the ground. A smaller flock passed by directly 

 afterwards, out of which I secured two. To my intense delight these 

 five birds were all Little Stints, at last. On dissection they all proved to 

 be males. 



It was not until the 22nd of July that we were able to visit Dvoinik 

 again. On that day the steamer was placed at our disposal, thanks to 

 Captain Areudt : and on our arrival we dismissed it for a week, and took 

 possession of a wrecked ship lying high and dry on the beach not far from 

 Dvoinik. 



As soon as we had landed our stores, we started off in the evening in 

 high glee for a raid upon the Little Stints. We hastened down to the 



