140 ALEXIEVKA 



walked towards the skua, which still remained in statu quo. 

 I missed a shot at it too, spent some time in a vain search 

 for its nest, and returned to my old quarters. In ten 

 minutes I saw the grey plover flying up. It took a wheel 

 in my direction, coming almost within shot, and evidently 

 took stock of me, and satisfied itself that I was a harm- 

 less animal practising with blank cartridge, and having no 

 evil design upon its eggs. It alighted about fifty yards 

 beyond the nest, and approached less timidly than before. 

 When it came within fifty yards of me I fired, this time 

 with No. 6 shot, and laid the poor bird upon its back. 

 As we returned to our boat Harvie-Brown found a fourth 

 nest, and, after watching as before, secured the bird. We 

 accidentally broke two of the eggs belonging to the third 

 nest, but reached Alexievka at midnight with fourteen 

 identified grey plover's eggs. Two sittings were quite 

 fresh, and made us an excellent omelette for breakfast 

 the next morning. The other two were very slightly 

 incubated. 



On the tundra we saw several Buffon's skuas, and 

 shot two. I also shot a willow-grouse on a piece of 

 swampy ground near a lake, where a few dwarf willows 

 were growing. On the lakes we saw many pairs of long- 

 tailed ducks. A few pairs of yellow-headed wagtails, 

 which evidently had nests, a redwing, a Temminck's 

 stint, a few pairs of bean-geese, a redpoll, and a hawk, 

 which, as far as I could make out with my glass, was a 

 male peregrine — this completed the list of birds we saw 

 ■on the tundra. 



On our return to headquarters we found that the price 

 we had paid for the eggs to the workmen had induced 

 many of them to go out bird-nesting, and at night our 

 bag for the day stood as under, as far as eggs were con- 

 cerned : — 



