1 84 THE GOLIEVSKI ISLANDS 



rouse rarer game. A shore-lark in first plumage was the 

 only other bird that rose at the sound. I secured it. 

 Wandering on farther I was still disappointed. Beds of 

 wild onion and large patches of purple vetch had replaced 

 the coarse grass. I returned on my footsteps to the edge 

 of the bay, and missed a shot at a swan ; a snowy owl 

 also flew past out of range. The curlew sandpipers had 

 disappeared. The flock of Little stints was still there, 

 but I left them to follow a snow-bunting, the first I had 

 seen since leaving Ust-Zylma. I shot it. Then to my 

 consternation I discovered through my glass that the last 

 man had left the beacon, and that I must return. A pair 

 of black-throated divers were sailing about the bay, one 

 or two herring-gulls were flying about, but my time was 

 up. I was a good mile from the ship, so turning by the 

 sandhills I made my way to the beacon, bagging a fine 

 male grey plover as I went. As soon as I got on board 

 we started for Alexievka. 



My wonderful success at the last moment determined 

 us by some means or other to return to this land teeming 

 with rare birds. We marked, as we steamed along, that 

 the sandhills continued on the north side of the river 

 Dvoinik as far as Cape Constantinovka. It was probable 

 that the breeding-ground of the Little stints might be 

 found on these coasts or on the mountains. Those I had 

 seen might be last year's birds, not breeding this year, but 

 haunting the neighbourhood of the older ones, as is the 

 case with the flocks of dunlins. It was tantalising to have 

 to hurry away from what seemed the Promised Land, 

 and as we looked at the old washing-tub that usually 

 carried us on our trips to the tundra, and knew that for 

 its life it could not dare cross Bolvanskaya Bay, we 

 felt inclined to parody Richard III.'s cry, and exclaim 

 aloud, " A boat ! a boat ! my kingdom for a boat ! " 



