370 LAST DAYS ON THE KUREIKA 



breeding-grounds, and those which remained had scat- 

 tered themselves in the forest. The pairing season was 

 over, and the songs with which the male birds had 

 wooed their females were now for the most part hushed, 

 the energies of the feathered songsters being apparently 

 concentrated upon the engrossing duties of nidification. 

 A few birds only seemed to have finished their nests, 

 and occasionally serenaded their patient mates during the 

 period of incubation. The bluethroats had disappeared 

 altogether. Of the four willow-warblers the western 

 species were seldom heard, but the three eastern species 

 were the commonest birds in the forest. I shot a solitary 

 nutcracker, a male in full moult, which, from the appear- 

 ances observable on dissection, I presumed might have 

 been a barren bird. The breeding haunts of the nut- 

 cracker remained a mystery which I was unable to solve. 

 Probably they were quietly hatching their eggs in the 

 remotest recesses of the forest. One of the Ostiaks brought 

 me the nest of a hazel-grouse containing eight eggs. 

 It was made of leaves, dry grass, and a few feathers. 



On the afternoon of the following day I climbed up 

 to the crow's nest which I had discovered on the nth of 

 May. It now contained two young birds ; one looked 

 much more thoroughbred hoodie than the other. I was 

 unable to shoot the male, but I had often examined him 

 through my binocular ; he had a very grey ring round 

 the neck, and showed a quantity of grey on the breast 

 and under the wings. I shot the female ; she had not 

 quite so much hoodie in her. The feathers on the sides 

 of the neck and on the lower part of the breast and belly 

 were grey, with dark centres. The fact is now con- 

 clusively proved that these hybrids are fertile. 



Late in the evening Boiling and I strolled through 

 the forest. As we were walking along, a little bird 



