POOLS ON THE TUNDRA 219 



go through every variety to which dunHns' eggs are 

 subject. All the eggs which we found, with one excep- 

 tion, which would probably be a barren one, were very 

 much incubated. 



The following morning the gale from the north con- 

 tinued. It was a mosquitoless day, and very cold ; a 

 heavy sea still broke against the shore ; ever and anon 

 the sun shone, but masses of cloud kept drifting over the 

 sky. We spent the day in exploring the tundra in the 

 direction of Bolvaiiskaya Bay. Far as the eye could 

 reach the country stretched before us, a gently undulat- 

 ing moor, an Arctic prairie, a Siberian tundra ; no hills 

 were on the horizon, save the short range of the Pytkoff 

 Kamin. Plenty of lakes, large and small, gleamed upon 

 the expanse ; the banks of most of them were steep and 

 of peat ; others were flat, and covered with rushy grass ; 

 rarely were they sandy. Here and there the pools were 

 almost dried up ; some were so choked up by coarse 

 grasses, rushes, and carices as to become swamps, holding 

 a little space of open water in the centre. These were 

 quite accessible, however, thanks to our waterproof boots ; 

 we sank some twelve to eighteen inches through water 

 and mud, but reached a safe bottom, hard and level as a 

 stone floor, a solid pavement of ice. We spent an hour 

 or two wading round one of these open spaces of water, 

 forming the centre of a choked-up lakelet. Upon a little 

 island of firm ground, that raised its summit above the 

 reeds, was the empty nest of some bird, probably a gull, 

 and close to the open water was the nest of a black- 

 throated diver, with one &gg. The latter was placed 

 upon a foundation of roots and dead grass, half turned to 

 peat, raked up from the bottom of the swamp, and upon 

 this was placed a lining of fresh green flaggy grass. 

 The ^.<g^ was very small ; but both parent birds were 



