DAN MEINERTZHAGEN'S DIARY. 49 



these latter birds about now, but they are all, 

 as far as I can see, cock birds. 



I've never seen anybody work so hard as the 

 people do here. The girl has to milk the cows, 

 call us, give us our meals, make our beds, 

 scrub all the floors, bake the bread, wash the 

 clothes, fetch the water, in fact, almost every- 

 thing. The men are cutting wood the whole day, 

 wet or fine. There is a shoemaker staying in the 

 house, who has made us each a pair of slippers 

 (4 kr.), and a pair of top-boots, water-tight, 

 and reaching about six inches above the knee 

 (13 kr.) They are both capital, and I am sure 

 we'll wear nothing else during our stay here. 



The whole surface of the main stream is now 

 covered with broken ice. I daresay the gale 

 that has been blowing these last few days has 

 had much to do with breaking up the ice. 



May 8th. We saw three new birds to-day ; 

 Bob saw a Greenshank and obtained it ; he also 

 shot a Teal. I saw a House Martin and a 

 Brambling the latter I obtained. 



The crops and gizzards of two Reed Buntings, 

 which I skinned this morning, contained 

 nothing but bleaberries. In fact most of the birds 

 appear to feed on these. They are, of course, 

 last autumn's berries which have been frozen up 

 in the snow, I saw to-day for the first time 



