A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 223 



were more of a protest than a protection against the 

 attacks of the Siberian Culex damnahilis. Luckily, 

 however, the male golden plover was a most obliging 

 sitter. He even returned to brood his newly-hatched 

 young while I was lying in the grass not five yards 

 away, and by the use of a lens of 14" focal length, I 

 exposed about two dozen plates upon him as he ran 

 round the nest. This sort of " fluke " photography is 

 often very successful as far as picture-making is con- 

 cerned, but it is, or ought to be, as poor sport to the 

 naturalist photographer as hunting a bagged fox is to a 

 fox-hunter. Nine-tenths of the pleasure and profit of 

 nature photography is derived from watching the bird 

 under natural conditions. To lure an anxious creature 

 within range of the lens by the cheeping of its own 

 chicks seems to savour so much of seething the kid in 

 its mother's milk that I always feel rather ashamed of 

 having done so, and as if I owed the poor bird an 

 apology. However, this plover is so excessively wary 

 that to photograph it from the ordinary hiding-tent 

 would be a long and difficult business. 



When I returned to the choom, the rest of the 

 party were at breakfast. Ouss was sitting in the family 

 circle on the look out for titbits, but Malchik as usual 

 was made to keep his distance. The men said that he 

 was a fool — dourak. I had a fellow-feeling for him, 

 because a pair of bar- tailed god wits had just shouted out 

 the same thing to me when I could not find their brood 

 among the rushes. I therefore called him inside, and 

 told him that some day I meant to found a Sodality for 

 Incompetent Fools, both human and canine. Ouss 



