560 
NATURE 
| April 12, 1883 
‘particular method of representation, as to point out that 
the curve of energy of the diffraction spectrum has no 
special claim to the title of “ normal.” 
RAYLEIGH 
THE ORNITHOLOGIST IN SIBERTA' 
HE ornithologists are certainly among the most 
enterprising of the seekers after truth. John Gould, 
che Birdman, is dead, but the same spirit which led him 
over the seas fifty years ago to investigate the then un- 
known Ornis of Australia still animates his brother bird- 
men. Mr. Henry Seebohm—a distinguished Member of 
the British Ornithologists’ Union—has recently made 
two journeys into Northern Siberia, solely with the object 
of observing new forms and habits of bird-life and of col- | 
lecting specimens. The scientific results of these expedi- 
§ sp P 
Vologda. Hence it was rather more than four days and 
nights continuous sledging to Archangel, which was 
reached on March 18 at noon. At Archangel, the last 
civilised city on the route, nineteen days were spent in 
completing preparations for the further journey and in 
| collecting information of what was considered by the 
good citizens of that place to be a most formidable under- 
| taking. From Archangel to Ust-Zylma, on the Petchora, 
a distance of from seven to eight hundred miles lay before 
the travellers, and as the frost showed some symptoms of 
breaking up, did not at first promise to be easily got over. 
Fortunately they were just intime. A fortnight later the 
thawing snow became impassable, the winter road was 
| destroyed, and the valley of the Petchora became cut off 
| from all communication with civilised Europe for two 
months! Ust-Zylma, a long, straggling village of wooden 
| houses on the right bank of the Petchora, some 300 miles 
from its mouth, was the headquarters of the 
party until June 15. The waiting for the 
‘coming of spring” was rather tedious. 
‘Their first week at Ust-Zylma was not very 
Fic. 1.—Grey Plover’s nest and young. 
tions have been published in the /4/s—the organ of the 
British Ornithologists’ Union—which is now entering 
upon the twenty-fifth year of its existence, whilst a most 
interesting and attractive general narrative of the two 
journeys is given in the volumes now before us. 
The first of these two expeditions, to the lower valley of 
the Petchora, in North-Eastern Russia, was made by the 
author in 1875, in company with Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, 
a gentleman whose name is also known as that of an ex- 
cellent field-naturalist. In order to be in time for the 
early spring migration, London was quitted on March 8, 
and the railway taken v7é St. Petersburg and Moscow to 
* “Siberia in Europe: a Visit to the Valley of the Petchora, in North- 
East Russia ; with Descriptions of the Natural History, Migration of Birds, 
&c."" By Henry Seebohm, F.L.S., F Z.S. 8vo. (London: Murray, 1820.) 
“Siberia in Asia: a Visit to the Valley of the Yenesay, in East Siberia ; 
with Descriptions of the Natural History, Migration of Birds, &c.”” By 
Henry Seebohm. 8vo. (London: Murray, 1882.) 
encouraging from an ornithological point of 
view. After eight days’ work, the list of 
identified birds in the valley of the Petchora 
only amounted to nine species, mostly of the 
commonest description. Three weeks had 
passed, and the thaw still made no progress ; 
the summer seemed as far off as ever. It 
was sometimes hot in the daytime, but always 
froze again at night. On April 28 the first 
bird’s-nest was taken (that of the Siberian 
Jay), but snow-shoes were still required to 
get about. It was not until May 10, in fact, 
that any real summer weather came, and it 
thawed in the shade as well as in the sun; 
but two days later it actually rained. The 
migrants then arrived in quick succession : 
swallows, swans, geese, gulls, wagtails, red- 
starts, pipits, and shorelarks, all were hurry- 
ing up from the south along with the first 
blush of spring. On May 20, while the party 
were on a collecting expedition on the op- 
posite bank of the Petchora, which they had 
crossed as usual on sledges, the grand crash 
came. The ice which had so long covered 
the river began to break up with a noise as 
of rumbling thunder, and cracks ran along 
it at the rate of a hundred miles in twenty- 
four hours. It was with great difficulty that 
the retreat was effected, and a few hours 
after home was reached the mighty river 
was in full flood, carrying its burden ot 
pack-ice and ice-floes to the sea at the rate 
of six miles an hour. In a week’s time the 
Petchora was entirely free from ice, and 
summer was upon them. 
Collecting now began in earnest, and every 
day added to the number of interesting birds, and 
increased the variety of nests and eggs. On June 8, 143 
eggs were taken and “blown” in the course of the day. 
On June to the journey down the Petchora was com- 
| menced in a large, partly-covered boat hired for the pur- 
pose, so that the naturalists might stop when they 
pleased for the purpose of collecting. The voyage was 
delightful. Everywhere the Blue-throat, the Redwing, 
the Brambling, the Fieldfare, the Little Bunting, and the 
Willow-warbler were common, whilst Three-toed Wood- 
peckers, Terek Sandpipers, and other rarities were making 
their nests and laying their eggs for the benefit of the 
travellers. Here one of the great discoveries of the ex- 
pedition was made, which cannot be described better than 
in Mr. Seebohm’s own words :— 
“We were now a little to the north of the Arctic circle, 
and at three in the morning moored our boat on the 
