CHAPTER VII. 



The Eastern golden plover — The bar-tailed godwit — The distribution of 

 birds at Golchika — The dotterel — Some other birds — The Siberian 

 herring-gull — The long-tailed duck — The king-eider — The wild 

 swan — The black-throated diver — The red-throated diver — The 

 white-fronted goose — The red -breasted goose — The migration of 

 geese — Scarcity of birds of prey — The blue fox — Some smaller 

 birds — The Lapland bunting — The red-throated pipit — he 

 autumn migration — Young blue-throats. 



One of the commonest birds on the tundra was the 



Eastern golden plover, or " Tilyoko," as the Samoyedes 



called it. One of the birds met you half a verst from 



the nest and whistled his mate off her eggs. They 



then both escorted you to their boundaries, and there 



you were, so to speak, handed over to the next couple 



for espionage. This happened over and over again, 



until for miles your progress was accompanied by a 



chorus of plaintive pipes — Mee-ee-kee — from that of the 



bird who was running before you within gunshot, to 



those on the distant ridges of the tundra, who could 



only be seen through binoculars. 



I found the first nest on 4th July. It contained 



four slightly incubated eggs, and was made of broken 



lichen haulms on the side of a long grassy slope. Both 



Seebohm and Mr. Popham found the European golden 



plover {Charadrius apricarius) on the Yenesei. Mr. 



Popham says that where they breed side by side on 



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