78 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
either a female or a bird of last year, stooped and picked 
something—a fish I suppose—out of the water. She sat 
on the bank with the quarry under her foot for a minute or 
two before skimming off, and a red-throated diver swam 
backwards and forwards in front of her with its bill wide 
open, as though daring her to come on again and steal 
its lawful supper. Doubtless it was making a noise 
of defiance, but we were too far off to hear. I saw the 
details of the drama through my glass. 
This, the most lovely of all the owls, comes to us at 
intervals. It has never been proved to have nested in 
Britain in the wild state. An Arctic bird, I have seen 
it frequently in Canada, and have described some of its 
habits elsewhere.t This was the first time we had seen 
it on Kolguev. 
To-day also we saw a white-billed northern diver 
flying past. This bird I never saw again on the island. 
The white-billed northern diver is quite distinct from 
our bird. I consider its rarity in Kolguev most re- 
markable; for it is known to be a breeder in the lakes 
of the mainland tundra. 
In the bank of a little brook we found a nest of the 
red-throated pipit, which contained six eggs. The nest 
was built entirely of grasses. Noone, I think, could 
mistake this bird for its British ally, the meadow-pipit. 
We moved a grey goose off her nest of four eggs. I 
believed her to be a bean goose. 
1 Pictures in Prose: of Nature, Wild Sport, and Humble Life (Longmans, 1894). 
