ABUNDANCE OF BIRDS 109 



doubtless filled with water when the Petchora reaches its 

 highest flood point in June, and many are not yet dried 

 up when an early winter sets in, and the remaining water 

 becomes ice-bound. 



Our three days stay at Habariki was marked by verj'- 

 variable weather. Thursday was calm and warm, with 

 bright sunshine. Friday was bitterly cold, with a strong 

 gale from the north, and only occasional gleams of sun- 

 shine, and slight storms of rain and snow. On Saturday 

 morning the gale had subsided, and the greater part of 

 the day the sun shone, but a violent hailstorm fell during 

 the afternoon, and in the evening we had a dead calm. 

 Notwithstanding the generally unfavourable weather we 

 saw a vast number of birds, and added to our lists in 

 these three days more than half as many species as we 

 had seen during the whole of our stay at Ust-Zylma. 



We saw several eagles, but only one near enough for 

 identification. It showed no traces of white on the tail, 

 and we concluded it might be a golden-eagle or a white- 

 tailed eagle of the first year. We identified an osprey as 

 it flew past us overhead. We fired at it, and it dropped 

 a large bunch of damp moss that it was doubtless carry- 

 ing for nesting purposes. On a bare larch-trunk tower- 

 ing high above the surrounding wood we could see, about 

 fifteen feet from the top, a large nest, which we presumed 

 was that of this bird. 



I rose a dark-winged hawk trom the ground, which I 

 have no doubt was a hobby. Some hours later we saw a 

 similar-looking bird, perched high on the naked branch of 

 a dead larch, and a long shot brought it down. It proved 

 a fine male of this species. 



Many of the ancient stems of the larches contained 

 old nest-holes of woodpeckers, and the bark of some trees 

 was riddled from top to bottom with small holes, evidently 



