THE MOUNTAIN ACCENTOR 433 



company of half a dozen long-tailed yellow-headed wag- 

 tails, whose breeding-haunts I was invading, much to their 

 consternation. Every now and then the pipit alighted on 

 a willow-tree, where it uttered an alarm-note like wit, wit. 

 By watching my opportunity, I secured five males and 

 three females. 



On slightly higher ground the swamp was nearly dry, 

 the willows were growing in isolated clumps, and the soil 

 was bare or covered with short grass and moss. Great 

 numbers of Temminck's stints were breeding here, and 

 were soon flying round me in all directions. Many of 

 their broken egg-shells lay about, and I found one of 

 their young in down. Lapland buntings were also 

 common on this piece of ground. 



Another slight elevation brought me to different 

 ground, where the willows were four or five feet high, 

 and the open space was gay with the brilliant flowers of 

 the tundra. The red-throated pipit, the Lapland bunting, 

 and the yellow-headed wagtail abounded, and occasion- 

 ally I saw a reed-bunting, a Siberian chiffchaff, or a 

 species of thrush. I shot one of the latter birds, which 

 proved to be a redwing. I also saw a fieldfare on this 

 island, and shot several examples of the mountain hedge- 

 sparrow. The cold wind with occasional showers keep- 

 ing the mosquitoes down, I was able to shoot without a 

 veil, and consequently to see and to shoot birds with 

 much greater ease than heretofore. 



o 



The mountain accentor was a silent bird, but now 

 and then I could hear its tit-like note, til-il-il, proceeding 

 from a willow-bush. It was some time before I was 

 able to see the bird that uttered the cry, as it frequented 

 the thickest of the willow-bushes, sneaking from one to 

 another like a grasshopper-warbler. This bird should 

 not be called the mountain accentor ; a much better name 



2 E 



