46 UST-ZYLMA 



brambling or greenfinch. The alarm-note is a loud tweek. 

 As they fly together in flocks they merely twitter to each 

 other, not unlike purple sandpipers on the seashore. 



Flocks of redpolls {Fringilla linaria, Linn.) were 

 also common, but consisting of much smaller numbers 

 than those of the snow- bunting. Many of the males 

 were beginning to assume the carmine breast, showing 

 great promise of beauty when the full summer plumage 

 should be attained. We were informed that these birds 

 arrived about the same time as the snow-bunting. On 

 the outskirts of the town we met with a few small parties 

 •of yellow-hammers {Emberiza citrinella, Linn.), and oc- 

 casionally heard their familiar song. These birds are 

 probably also migratory. They were comparatively rare, 

 and as we never saw any farther north, we may assume 

 Ust-Zylma to be about the extreme limit of their summer 

 range. The forests were remarkably silent. Often there 

 was not a bird to be seen for miles. Once or twice we 

 had a distant glimpse of a Siberian jay, a marsh-tit, or a 

 bullfinch, but we did not succeed in obtaining a shot. On 

 the whole our first week in Ust-Zylma was not very 

 encouraging from an ornithological point of view. After 

 eight days work our list of identified birds in the valley 

 of the Petchora stood as follows : 



1. Hooded crow. 4. Tree-sparrow. 7. Yellow-hammer. 



2. Raven. 5. Snow-bunting. 8. Capercailzie. 



3. Magpie. 6. Mealy redpoll. 9. Hazel grouse. 



— certainly a very meagre list. Notwithstanding such a 

 bad beginning, we did not feel disheartened, but laid all 

 the blame on the weather. We could not help smiling at 

 our alarm in Archangel lest summer should come before 

 we could reach the Petchora. Nearly three weeks had 

 gone by, and summer and the summer birds seemed as 

 far off as ever. The thaw made no progress. Sometimes 



