A DOOMED RACE 99 



of the poorer men of his tribe. Ail the richer families 

 had migrated north with their herds of reindeer before 

 the snow had melted. The poorer families remained 

 behind, hanging on to the skirts of the Russians, helping 

 them with their fishing, and receiving for pay such food 

 as their employers chose to give them. One cannot help 

 pitying these poor people. Their nation is gradually 

 dying out. Like the North American Indians, they are 

 doomed to destruction, for, like them, they cannot refuse 

 spirits. In the struggle for existence they have no 

 chance with the cunning Russian, who in all matters of 

 business has no more conscience than a Greek or a 

 Jew. 



During this time the birds were few. On the 27th 

 we took a walk in the forest, and the only ones that were 

 singing were the willow-warblers, an occasional pine- 

 grosbeak breaking in now and then. We secured, how- 

 ever, a pair of bramblings out of a flock. We shot a 

 blue-throated warbler, a yellow-hammer, a female reed- 

 bunting, a Siberian jay, a stonechat, and a red-throated 

 pipit, and out of a number we brought down a brace of 

 golden plover. We saw a solitary shore-lark, a gull 

 (apparently the common species), and a fine male bull- 

 finch. In the town we got a couple of wood-sandpipers ; 

 then the green wagtails were common, and we came upon 

 a large party of Lapland buntings, all apparently females. 

 In the evening the wind dropped and a frost set in. At 

 midnight, when we went to bed, the thermometer marked 

 only 30. The next day was bright, but cold, with a 

 light north wind blowing. We went for another long 

 tramp through the pine-woods, but very few birds were 

 to be seen. We shot a pair of grosbeaks, a fieldfare, and 

 a blue-throated warbler (Cyanecula siiecica, Linn.). We 

 saw a Siberian jay, for whose nest we had a long search, 



