THE ARCTIC BLUE-THROAT. 109 



conveyed in trucks, converted into comfortable 

 carriages, along a private tram - line on the 

 Baron's estate, till we reached his chateau at 

 Kapovar, where our party of nineteen were en- 

 tertained for the night. This happened on the 

 22nd of May, 1891, and I carried to the castle 

 two heavy loads of birds, the result of the day's 

 collecting — Night Herons, Goshawks, etc. There 

 ought to have been a Spotted Eagle ; but that 

 is another story. 



During our progress along the canal before- 

 mentioned, my own turn came to be conducted 

 to a marked-down nest, and while the ferry-boat 

 was hauled up, a small party, consisting of the 

 President, M. Fatio of Geneva, Mr. Biittikofer of 

 Leiden, and myself, were conducted to small 

 punts (crazy little craft enough and leaky too, as 

 I soon found to my cost), provided with guns, 

 and "poled" by keepers into the woods, which 

 seem in this country to flourish in swampy 

 ground. At last we arrived in the midst of a 

 grove of trees, where I nearly spoilt the whole 

 object of the excursion by my desire to shoot a 

 Little Spotted Woodpecker, which was climbing 

 up a tree. I wish now that I had done so, as we 



