HOME MAILS AT LAST 153 



A cold east wind that blew all day prevented us doing 

 much ; we went out for an hour only, and shot a few 

 yellow-headed wagtails and a phalarope. We had plenty 

 to interest us, however, in reading the letters and papers 

 that had reached us from England. The steamer had 

 arrived from Ust-Zylma the day before, bringing us 

 tidings of home from April 4th to May 13th, inclusive. 

 The post had reached Ust-Zylma on the 26th ; the last 

 letters had therefore been five weeks en route, and so far 

 as we know they had not been delayed in Archangel. 

 From Ust-Zylma to Alexievka they would have taken 

 more than another week to travel had it not been for the 

 steamer. On the 13th of May the Consul at Archangel 

 wrote that the ice on the Dvina was expected to break up 

 in seven days. A letter dated the 26th described the 

 Dvina as quite free from ice for some days past, showing 

 that it and the Petchora broke up within a day or two of 

 each other. 



The cold north-east wind that continued blowing kept 

 us near home, but as it also kept the mosquitoes at bay 

 we did not complain very bitterly of it. In the face of 

 the cutting gale we crossed over to the tundra on the 

 following day, in search once more of the grey plovers. 

 On the way we visited an island and took a nest of the 

 ringed plover. Soon after landing at our destination we 

 heard the note of the birds we were in search of, and saw 

 two or three, but could not discover any signs of their 

 having a nest. After our previous experience we decided 

 to vary our tactics. Hitherto we had found the nests by 

 sheer perseverance in searching, and had afterwards 

 watched the female to the nest and shot her. We now 

 decided to watch the female on to the nest in the first 

 instance, and, having by this means found it, to secure 

 the female afterwards as a further and more complete 



