172 STANAVIALACHTA REVISITED 



German captain, who brutally trod upon his hand, 

 evidently thinking it a fine thing to show his contempt 

 for the poor Samoyede, Simeon equally took the insult as 

 a matter of course, did not offer to withdraw his hand nor 

 move a muscle of his face. If Simeon had any hot blood 

 in him, the veins of it must have run very deep under his 

 sallow skin. 



The next day I did not do much either, but Cocksure 

 being out of birds, I turned out amongst the mosquitoes 

 and got him a few. I shot several yellow-headed wag- 

 tails, which were as abundant as ever, and also three 

 Terek sandpipers, the first we had secured, although we 

 had occasionally heard their notes on the island. A nest 

 of shoveller's eggs, quite fresh, was brought to us during 

 the day. 



Our ninth nest of the grey plover we took on the 

 1 2th of July. A stiff warm gale from the east, with 

 occasionally a smart shower of rain, kept the air clear of 

 mosquitoes in the morning. In the afternoon the wind 

 fell, and the mosquitoes were as bad as ever ; but we 

 were too busy to heed them much. At eleven we crossed 

 to the tundra. We soon came upon a pair of grey 

 plovers, which rose a couple of hundred yards ahead of 

 us, their wings glittering in a gleam of sunshine after a 

 smart shower. These birds have frequently a very curious 

 flight as they rise from the nest, tossing their wings up in 

 the air, reminding one somewhat of the actions of a 

 tumbler pigeon. We lay down as near as we could to 

 the spot from which they rose, and were somewhat 

 puzzled at their behaviour. The male seemed equally, 

 if not more anxious than the female, running about as 

 much as she did, continually crying, and often coming 

 very near us, and trying to attract our attention by pre- 

 tending to be lame. The female rarely uttered a note. 



