94 PEASANT LIFE IN UST-ZYLMA 



Shortly after we heard a warbler singing. For a 

 moment we fancied it was a willow-wren, but before the 

 song was half finished we felt convinced that we were 

 unacquainted with it. It was not unlike the " chiff-cheff- 

 chaff " of our bird when it makes the third variation it 

 occasionally does in its notes, but these notes were more 

 musical, repeated rapidly without intermission, running 

 into a song. This bird was also perching in a spruce 

 fir, but a long shot brought it down. It proved to be 

 the Siberian chiffchaff. For days afterwards we heard 

 several of these birds singing, and, on further study of 

 their note, we found it very distinct from that of the 

 chiffchaff Our bird's note is not badly represented by 

 its name, with an equal accent on both syllables. The 

 note of the Siberian chiffchaff is better represented by 

 the word " chivit," with a decided accent on the first 

 syllable. It is seldom uttered singly, but generally 

 repeated " chiv-it, chiv-et," or oftener " chivit," followed 

 by two notes of its song. The bird seemed very partial 

 to the spruce fir, perching on its topmost bough. In 

 comparing its habits and those of the willow-warbler, we 

 found the Siberian chiffchaff easy to shoot, while the 

 latter was as wild as possible. 



Another song that greatly roused our curiosity was a 

 melodious whistle, reminding us both of the song of the 

 blackbird and of the redwing. We expected the songster 

 would turn out to be some rare Siberian thrush. The 

 bird was by no means shy, so we had no difficulty in 

 following its song, and in approaching within easy shot, 

 as it perched sometimes on the top, sometimes near the 

 summit of a spruce fir. Once we observed it hopping 

 on the ground. We obtained six specimens, and were 

 somewhat disappointed to find such melodious and thrush- 

 like notes proceeded from the pine-grosbeak. 



