148 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 



regularly in this country, and most of the others are 

 frequent on passage. Some of them are so well known 

 in their European haunts that I shall mention them only 

 in passing. Such were the reeves and dunlins who nested 

 in the long grass in the marshes, and a single common 

 snipe who flew round the island, bleating his lonely 

 love-lyrics all day long. There were also some arctic 

 terns who nested in a vociferous colony close to the 

 river. The terns on the Yenesei had decadent tastes. 

 In this country they are the cleanest and most skilful 

 of fishermen, seizing only live prey in clear water. 

 But at Golchika they were the veriest little scavengers, 

 and hawked all day round the packing stations in search 

 of fish entrails and any refuse that might be thrown into 

 the water. Here they were helped by the gulls, hundreds 

 of which gathered round Golchika in August. These 

 were all the Siberian herring-gull {Larnsfuscus anteluis), 

 as our ornithologists are pleased to call it, or the Siberian 

 lesser black-back, as nature seems to have designed it 

 to be called. It differs from our Larus fuscus in its 

 slightly larger size and paler mantle. Mr. Popham 

 informs me that when he visited Golchika, he found a 

 considerable colony of these gulls. No such colony 

 exists now, and although once or twice I found a few 

 pairs breeding at Och Marino and Sloika, I never 

 obtained any eggs. The birds seen round Golchika 

 were nearly all in the plumage of the second or third 

 year, and of nine that were brought to me by Sylkin, 

 eight were females. 



The only duck that was common at Golchika was 

 the long-tailed duck. These birds were common on the 



