54 THE ZYLMA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 



on the house tops, and wherever it had been disturbed 

 by footmarks, was white, and all the rest was a pale 

 delicate cobalt-blue. 



On Tuesday the 28th of April we got our first nest. It 

 was brought in by some peasants. It was the nest of a 

 Siberian jay, and contained four eggs. This bird is pro- 

 bably the earliest breeder in these parts, and no doubt 

 winters in the Petchora district. The nest was not so 

 flat as we expected, and was composed almost entirely of 

 lichens, with a few pieces of matting, hair, and feathers. 

 The foundation was made of slender pine twigs, and the 

 inside was profusely lined with feathers. 



The snowstorm having now ceased, we made an 

 excursion on snow-shoes to an island on the Petchora, 

 and afterwards visited the opposite bank of the river — 

 r autre c6te, as Piottuch called it. It was remarkable 

 how very few birds we saw. I twice came across a flock 

 of bullfinches, all males, and shot three of them. I also 

 saw and shot a solitary tit, very nearly allied to our marsh- 

 tit. It is a greyer bird than ours, with the white cheeks 

 much whiter, and the black hood extending much farther 

 down the back. We also saw footmarks of hares, and 

 found several snares set by the peasants to catch them. 

 The next day we visited the same ground again. We 

 did not see a single bullfinch, but caught a glimpse of a 

 small spotted woodpecker. We crossed over to the 

 banks of the Zylma, but the birch woods there produced 

 nothing but a solitary marsh-tit, which I shot. The 

 woods round Ust-Zylma seemed to be absolutely empty 

 of bird life. Our first eight days had produced only nine 

 species of birds. During the following ten days we 

 increased our list by only three birds — the bullfinch, the 

 Siberian jay, and the Siberian marsh-tit. 



