194 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEl 



stint's nest and snared the female upon the eggs by 

 means of a string noose. I found another clutch shortly 

 afterwards, and presently flushed a red-necked phalarope 

 from a nest with three eggs. Lapland buntings were 

 very common in the coarse, tussocky ground where the 

 marshes abutted on to the mudhills, and we took two 

 nests, in each case with half-fledged young. Some 

 arctic terns were breeding in a deep marsh on our right 

 hand, but we did not look for their nests. Every half- 

 verst or so, a wide, muddy stream flowed sluggishly into 

 the river, and we were obliged to wait for Sylkin and 

 his ferry boat. He was having hard work, for the wind 

 and the current were both dead against him. Earlier 

 in the evening the sky had been full of sleet showers, 

 but these gradually cleared away, and by midnight the 

 sun blazed out from the fringe of the cloud rack. The 

 light was so rich and golden that it looked, even if it 

 did not feel, warm, but the birds, following their usual 

 custom, were all at roost ; and for three hours we saw 

 very few of them, except when a drowsy Temminck's 

 stint fluttered out of the willows. Vassilli and I beat 

 systematically round a large lake ; and presently he 

 put up a cock willow-grouse, which only flew for a 

 short distance and then perched on a hillock. 



After his last mistake, Vassilli was burning to avenge 

 himself upon all the grouse tribe, so he stalked the 

 bird elaborately, and shot it. A long-tailed skua flew 

 past us. These bold, bad marauders fly up and down 

 the river night and day without resting, like spirits of 

 evil. About 1.30 a.m. we returned to the river-bank 

 to pick up Sylkin. The accounts of my excursions 



