150 AFTER GREY PLOVERS AT WASILKOVA 



those of our new pipit ; they were entirely distinct from 

 that of the red-throated pipit. Instead of being composed 

 of fine round grasses they were made of flat-leaved grass, 

 knotted water-plants and small leaves, and in two of them 

 were Equiseta. The eggs in them were larger, more lark- 

 like, a dark ring circled the larger end, and they were all 

 more or less mottled, especially those of the lighter variety. 



Buffon's skua, we found, had been feeding upon 

 beetles and cranberries. Another fact worth noticing was 

 that the ten great snipes which we shot near Pustozersk 

 were all males. 



The following morning proving fine we set off on an 

 excursion to Lake Wasilkova, which at high flood was 

 but a bay of the Petchora. The tundra inland was the 

 usual stretch of rolling moorland, swamp, and bog, 

 interspersed with lakes and ranges of low sandy hills. 

 On the swamps we found dunlins, on the moors golden 

 plover, and once we saw a grey plover. In both localities 

 we met the Lapland bunting and the red-throated pipit, 

 and the dry grassy hills were haunted by shore-larks. 

 On one of the lakes and along the coast we came upon 

 Siberian herring-gulls ; longtailed ducks abounded on the 

 stretches of open water, but we failed to find a nest. We 

 came to a spot on the shore where a pair of peregrines 

 had built their eyrie, but the peasants had taken the eggs 

 away for food. Under a low willow bush we shot a black 

 scoter as she sat on her nest. Once we saw a hen- 

 harrier beating up the hillsides, and caught sight of a 

 white -tailed eagle as it flew overhead. Among the 

 willows in the low swampy ground we shot a pair of 

 wood- sandpipers, and caught three of their young, 

 apparently a couple of days old. We also saw a 

 raven and many Buffon's skuas. During the day the 

 mosquitoes were very troublesome in the sheltered parts 



