536 BRITISH BIRDS. 



sledge and joined our host and his friend, crossed the great river (a mile 

 and a half) over the snow on the ice, and reached the wooden house after 

 some adventures among the melting snow-fields. Early the next morning 

 the sight that presented itself to our view was a most interesting one. As 

 far as we could see, the strip of open water on each side of the ice in the 

 Zylma was black with Ducks, and overhead Ducks were flying about in every 

 direction like a swarm of bees. To estimate the number at half a million 

 would probably be to guess under the mark. They were almost all of them 

 Pintails, but many Teal and Wigeon were among them. In spite of their 

 enormous numbers they were wild enough. We had no difficulty in watch- 

 ing them through our glasses so as to identify the species ; but when it came 

 to getting within shot, we found the only way was to conceal ourselves 

 behind a willow-stump and take them as they flew over. After the weary 

 waiting for summer to come, with comparatively few birds to watch except 

 the flocks of Snow-Buntings, Shore-Larks, and Lapland Buntings, it was 

 most exciting to find ourselves in the midst of such abundance of bird-life; 

 nor was the prospect of unlimited roast duck by any means to be despised 

 after a month's diet of salt beef. We did not, however, enjoy it long on 

 this occasion, for on the morning of the next day we were startled to find 

 that our road on the ice of the Zylma had broken up into pack-ice, and was 

 steadily marching down to the Petchora. We were obliged to desert our 

 baggage, and, after a forced march to the mouth of the river, were fortunate 

 enough to find a boat waiting for us, which, thanks to the important posi- 

 tion of our host, had been sent across the ice to our rescue. As we crossed 

 the ice we could hear it cracking like thunder under our feet ; and the 

 next morning we found that the ice on the great river had broken up, 

 and we were effectually cut off from our baggage and the Pintails by 

 a mass of rapidly drifting pack-ice, which continued to march past for 

 five days. 



As soon as the snow had melted, the Ducks, or those of them which 

 remained, began to breed. The nests of the Pintail were placed in the 

 grass among the shrubs in dry places, generally at some distance from the 

 water; they were deep, and well lined with dead grass and sedge, and, 

 when the full clutch was laid, contained plenty of down. We took the first 

 eggs on the 5th of June. In Germany, where a few Pintails remain to 

 breed, eggs may be taken early in May. Seven to nine, or sometimes ten, 

 is the full number, but where the first eggs are taken the second clutch only 

 contains five or six eggs. They are pale buffish green in colour, and vary 

 in length from 2'25 to 2'0 inch, and in breadth from 1-6 to T5 inch. 

 It is impossible to distinguish them from eggs of the Long-tailed Duck, 

 or from small and exceptionally green eggs of the Mallard. The 

 down is, however, a tolerably safe guide to their identification, being 

 of the same size as that of the Mallard, but distinctly tipped with white, 



