DAN MEINERTZHAGEN'S DIARY. 35 



April 26th. To-day we were up at 2.20 a.m. 

 and out by 3.30. Bob going to the 'rara side, 

 and I stopping this side. When I had got 

 about three miles from the town, I heard what I 

 took to be the note of a Brown Owl, within 

 two or three hundred yards of me, on the 

 further side of a small valley ; but it could not 

 on second thoughts be a Brown Owl ; they do 

 not occur so far north ; so I immediately made 

 for where I thought the bird was. When I 

 arrived there after much trouble, I saw nothing, 

 and waited to listen, when I heard it again 

 further on. I naturally thought the bird had 

 flown on in front of me, so I followed again, and 

 again the same thing happened, and again, and 

 again. The note was louder each move I made, 

 and appeared to me slightly different to an 

 Owl's note, yet I couldn't imagine what else 

 it might be. I continued for about three miles 

 tracing this note, stopping every few hundred 

 yards and listening, picturing to myself Eagles 

 Owls, Lapp Owls, Ural Owls, and all the 

 big Owls I could think of, till at last I came to 

 a huge swamp frozen over all but a small piece 

 of open water in the centre, and by this I sat 

 down and wept, for I was streaming with 

 perspiration, and the sound had stopped. As 

 soon as I got cool, I started to return, when a 



