340 THE MARCH-PAST OF THE MIGRANTS 



The next day was again lovely and smiling, with 

 scarcely a breath of wind, but the snow thawed more 

 slowly than we wished, for it froze every night for an 

 hour or two. Four-and-twenty hours of warm south 

 wind would have made a wonderful difference. The 

 river had risen again, and during the night and the 

 following day pack-ice and floes floated up the Kureika. 

 This we were told was the Tungusk ice coming down. 

 All this time the great migration of birds was going on. 

 My list for that day was forty birds shot, and thirty-two 



OSTIAK DRILL 



skinned. The most interesting were the golden plover, 

 wood sandpiper, Temminck's stint, little bunting, a couple 

 of male scarlet bullfinches, and a couple of dark ouzels 

 ( Turd^ls obscurus}. The latter was a new species to me 

 in the flesh, for I had hitherto only known it from 

 skins. 



The following day was again brilliantly fine. The 

 wind, if the gentlest zephyr may be called wind, changed 

 continually, east, south, and west. The stream of ice 

 went on uninterruptedly, but this time it was down the 

 Kureika. Birds were not quite so numerous, neverthe- 

 less I added four to my list. The first was a fieldfare 

 down by the river- side, then I secured a terek-sandpiper 

 on the flooded grass behind the store. In the afternoon 

 a flock of half a dozen ringed plover arrived, and I shot 



