BIRDS EN ROUTE 13 



and Russian butter from a German baker, who came 

 from Hesse Cassel. Jackdaws and hooded crows were 

 the commonest birds in the .open country, feeding for the 

 most part upon the droppings of the horses on the roads. 

 They were in splendid plumage and wonderfully clean. 

 Many of the jackdaws had an almost white ring round 

 the neck, and are doubtless the Corvus collaris of some 

 authors, but, so far as we were able to see, this cannot 

 be regarded as a good species. We frequently saw 

 almost every intermediate variety in the same flock. 

 During the first few days we noticed many colonies of 

 nests in the plantations, but whether these would be 

 tenanted by rooks later on in the season, or whether the 

 hooded crow breeds in colonies in this country, we were 

 not able to ascertain. We occasionally saw ravens and 

 magpies, the latter becoming more common as we travelled 

 farther north. In the open country we frequently came 

 across small flocks of yellow-hammers on the roads, and 

 now and then a pair of bullfinches. In driving through 

 the forest we occasionally caught sight of a crossbill, 

 pine grosbeak, marsh -tit, jay, or great spotted wood- 

 pecker. On one occasion we had an excellent opportunity 

 of watching a small covey of willow-grouse, almost as pure 

 white as the snow upon which they were running. In 

 the villages sparrows were common enough. At Vologda, 

 we are under the impression that they were all the house 

 sparrow. In the villages through which we passed after 

 the first day they were certainly all tree sparrows. 



Upon our arrival at Archangel we were most hospitably 

 entertained by the British Consul, Mr. Charles Birse. 

 We were delighted once more to sit down to a good 

 dinner, to enjoy the luxury of a Russian bath after our 

 long journey, and to have a good night's rest in a 

 comfortable bed. 



