358 FULL SUMMER AT LAST 



roubles to row Glinski and me across the Yenesei in 

 their lodka. The distance was computed to be four 

 versts, but the current took us down a verst below the 

 village, and this verst we had to row back up-stream. 

 We were just over an hour making the journey. The 

 Starrosta of the village gave us quarters, and we planned 

 to have three days' good sport. A peasant soon brought 

 us thirteen golden-eye ducks' eggs, with the down out of 

 the nest. He told us that he found the eggs in a hollow 

 tree. He also brought two common gulls' eggs. The 

 great snipe I found even more common than on the other 

 side of the river. In the evening I watched numbers of 

 them through my binocular. They stretched out their 

 necks, threw back their heads, opened and shut their 

 beaks rapidly, uttering that curious noise like the running 

 of one's finger along the edge of a comb, exactly as I had 

 heard them before. 



The scarlet bullfinches also were very numerous. 

 The male was generally perched conspicuously in a birch- 

 tree warbling a few simple notes, which sounded very like 

 the words, " I'm very pleased to see you," with the 

 emphasis on see. The martins were busy building their 

 nests. 



I turned out at four o'clock the next morning, and 

 had a long round before breakfast. The number of birds 

 was perfectly bewildering. I found two wigeons' nests, 

 one with seven eggs and the other with five. I shot a 

 sedge-warbler, and a couple of Siberian chiffchaffs, also a 

 small bird whose song resembled somewhat the trill of a 

 redpoll ; I was surprised to find it to be the Arctic 

 willow-warbler. The reed-bunting was common, but I 

 did not see the smaller species. 



I was well rewarded for getting up so early. There 

 can be no doubt that ornithological observations are much 



