Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 157 



GALLINAGO MAJOR (Gmelin) . 



Six days after the arrival of the Pin-tailed Snipe the Double 

 Snipe appeared in considerable numbers, and soon became by 

 far the commonest species. In the evenings I used some- 

 times to watch these birds through my binocular. With a 

 little caution I found it easy to get very near them ; and fre- 

 quently I have sat partially concealed between a couple of 

 willow bushes attentively turning my glass on two or three 

 pairs of these birds, all within fifteen or twenty yards of me. 

 They used to stretch out their necks, throw back the head 

 almost onto the back, and open and shut their beaks rapidly, 

 uttering a curious noise, like running one's finger along the 

 edge of a comb. This was sometimes accompanied by a short 

 flight or by the spreading of the wings and tail. The Double 

 Snipe is by no means shy, and allows of a near approach. 

 When it gets up from the ground it rises with a whirr of the 

 wings like that of a Grouse, but not so loud. The Double 

 Snipe probably breeds on the Arctic circle, as it still frequented 

 the marshy ground near the Koo-ray'-i-ka when we weighed 

 anchor in the ill-starred ' Thames ' on the 29th of June, and 

 I found it still frequenting the same locality when I returned 

 in the ' Yen-e-say ' on the 2nd of August. 



CYGNUS MDSICUS, Bechst. 



I did not succeed in identifying the common Wild Swan 

 in the valley of the Yen-e-say 7 . Every skin which I had an 

 opportunity of examining proved to be that of Bewick's Swan ; 

 every footprint in the sand which I measured was that of 

 Bewick's Swan ; and all the eggs I obtained agreed in size 

 with those of Bewick's Swan which Harvie Brown and I 

 obtained in the Petchora, and were too small for those of the 

 larger species. Nevertheless there cannot be any doubt that 

 Cygnus musicus is found in the valley of the Yen-e-say', since 

 Middendorff found it still further to the east, and it is com- 

 mon on the Amur. I examined a number of skins at various 

 stations between Tomsk and Tobolsk, and found both species 

 represented in nearly equal numbers. 



SER. IV. VOL. III. N 



