472 FROM TOMSK TO PERM 



that of circumnavigating a clump of willows, surrounded 

 by a narrow strip of green grass, which gradually lost itself 

 in a sloping bank of yellow sand. The monotony of the 

 journey was, however, wonderfully relieved by the abun- 

 dance of bird life. To lounge on deck with binocular at 

 hand ready to be brought to bear on any interesting bird 

 or group of birds was pleasant pastime. 



Birds of prey were very numerous. On the meadows 

 around Tomsk the black kite was as common as it is in 

 the Golden Horn at Constantinople. Hooded crows and 

 magpies were constantly seen on the banks of the river ; 

 and near the villages we noticed jackdaws, tree-sparrows 

 and white wagtails. After we had entered the labyrinth 

 of the Tura, large flocks of rooks appeared for the first 

 time. Wading and swimming birds were of course the 

 most abundant. Soon after leaving Tomsk, I noticed 

 about forty cormorants on a sandbank. Whenever we 

 passed a fishing party, gulls and terns were sure to 

 abound ; probably the common gull and the common 

 tern. Ducks abounded everywhere. Cranes passed over 

 occasionally in small flocks, and whilst steaming up the 

 Tura I had a fine view of four or five Asiatic white 

 cranes (Grus leucogeranus}, as they flew leisurely over our 

 vessel. During flight they appeared to be pure white all 

 over, except the outside half of each wing, which looked 

 jet-black. 



Sandpipers were the commonest birds of all, and the 

 most noisy. The redshank was the loudest of all, though 

 perhaps the least numerous. His tyu, tyil is well known 

 to every ornithologist. The note of the wood-sandpiper 

 is very similar, but softer. This bird abounded. A less 

 noisy and less common, but more conspicuous bird was 

 the green sandpiper, whose tye, tye was frequently 

 heard. The common sandpiper was also by no means 



