214 IN CAMP AT DVOINIK 



rows of cotton-grass, we agreed to call for the future the 

 Little stint ground. The hummocks were covered with 

 green moss, mingled here and there with a little hoary 

 reindeer moss. This undergrowth was concealed by the 

 maroshka (the cloudberry), a species of rush, sedges, 

 the dwarf sweet-smelling daphne, and other shrubs and 

 flowers of the tundra. 



The last few days had been almost winter, but on the 

 following day it was summer once again. The wind 

 had dropped and the clouds had gone from the sky. 

 This was the bright side of the change ; the reverse was 

 the swarm of mosquitoes that hung over the tundra. 

 Brown and I visited the Little stint ground again, on 

 the principle of "stick to your covey"; but not a bird 

 or a nest could we see upon it. We shot a w^heatear 

 on the shore, saw a pair of sanderlings, dropped a fine 

 glaucous gull, a reeve, and some other birds, and then 

 returned to our quarters. Our Samoyede brought us 

 a couple of nests of long-tailed ducks, one containing 

 three eggs, the other five. We were tired out, so 

 having cooked a duck for dinner, we went to bed at 

 4 A.M., to rise at n A.M. We began our day (let the 

 reader forgive the Irishism, it is only a Petchorski bull), 

 by watching the sun set and rise again in the space of an 

 hour or so ; then we set off, hoping to get the start of 

 the mosquitoes. It was a dead calm, and taking the 

 boat, we crossed over to the north twin cape. We found 

 the sand barren of special interest, as it had been on the 

 other side ; only the intrusive ringed plover made as 

 much hubbub as a hundred Little stints or grey plovers 

 would have done, evidently considering its eggs were 

 the only ones we could possibly be in search of. The 

 lakes and pools were very similar in shape and appear- 

 ance to those on the south cape. Temminck's stints were 



