140 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 



their confidence in their own judgment in this 

 matter. 



I obtained both male and female Temminck's stints 

 at the nest, but whether the sexes incubate in turns, or 

 whether one bird takes over the whole business, I cannot 

 say. The chicks are much greyer in colour than those 

 of the little stint, which, except for their size, resemble 

 young dunlins. At the end of July, baby stints 

 swarmed everywhere. The AntonofFs' dogs spent most 

 of their leisure in rambling round the island and 

 gobbling up all that they could find. When hard 

 pressed I have seen these fledglings take to the water 

 and swim as cleverly as phalaropes. 



For an expedition of this kind the choice of a camera 

 is not an easy matter, for it is impossible to carry a 

 number of bulky appliances about with you, and 

 therefore any instrument chosen must be able to do the 

 work of two or three. It is particularly difficult for the 

 ornithologist, for bird photography requires a specialised 

 apparatus. There is only one kind of camera that will 

 fulfil all requirements, and that is a reflex. The 

 objections to the reflex type are its weight and its 

 costliness, and also it is not very suitable for taking 

 nest pictures. But for the rest, the advantage of 

 focusing up to the moment of exposure far outweighs 

 the drawbacks, especially when the sitter is likely to be 

 anything so restless as a bird. All the ornithological, 

 and most of the other illustrations used in this book 

 were taken with a "Birdland" reflex camera, built 

 for me by Mr. Armytage Sanders of London. It is 

 expressly intended for bird photography ; and as far as 



