BIRDS ON THE ISLANDS 131 



had indeed secured some interesting species of birds, but 

 each island had proved almost a repetition of the others 

 the same landscape, the same conditions, the same 

 bird-life. We were nearing Alexievka, however, and on 

 the eastern side of the river we could almost distinguish 

 the low outline of the skirts of the great Zemelskaya 

 Tundra, stretching away, we knew, on the east to the 

 Ural Mountains, on the north-east to the gates of the 

 Kara Sea ; and the tundra was the unexplored land, the 

 land of promise. 



On this island we took the nest, containing seven 

 eggs, of a pintail, shooting the bird as she was flying off. 

 We found also those of the red-necked phalarope, the 

 great snipe, and the reed-bunting. Our most exciting 

 nest-discovery was that of a swan. It was a large nest, 

 made of coarse grass lined with a little down and a few 

 feathers, and containing three eggs. It was placed upon 

 a bank between two marshes, half-concealed by willow- 

 scrub. The most interesting birds we shot were a black 

 scoter, a herring-gull, and a long-tailed duck, the first 

 we had yet seen on our travels. Its cry was not unlike 

 the word " colguief." Of all species of ducks it is the 

 tamest and yet one of the most difficult to shoot, for it is 

 an expert at diving, and eludes the sportsman's aim by 

 its rapid and repeated plunges under the^surface of the 

 water. 



Just before reaching Alexievka we anchored for an 

 hour at another island, about which seven swans were 

 sailing. The graceful birds, however, did not give us 

 the chance of a shot. Upon this island we had an 

 excellent view of our first great black-backed gulls, and 

 also of Buffon's skua. The former were sitting amidst 

 several Siberian herring-gulls, but their superior size 

 allowed us to identify them at a glance. The Arctic tern 



