220 IN CAMP AT DVOINIK 



flying overhead, often coming near enough for identifica- 

 tion. On the open water phalaropes were swimming, 

 and we frequently rose them from the grasses at our feet. 

 Their behaviour plainly showed that they were breeding ; 

 they circled round us wildly, uttering their usual cry. We 

 secured three young in down, only recently hatched. 



We spent another hour on the banks of a large lake, 

 upon which swam two pairs of long-tailed ducks, each 

 with its brood. After waiting and watching and stalking, 

 we got hold of two old birds, two of the young in down 

 of one brood, and six more grown-up young of the other. 

 On the sandy margin of another lake, white with the 

 seeds of the cotton-grass, we saw several ringed plover, 

 and shot one Little stint. We came upon a few Buffon's 

 skuas, and on their ground we found the grey plover 

 abundant as usual. Returning home, I chose the lee 

 shore for my route, and as I came along watched several 

 glaucous and herring gulls, saw a pair of wheatears, and 

 shot a shore-lark. 



Meanwhile our Samoyede and our half-breed had 

 made a long excursion into the tundra by the banks of 

 the rivers Erisvanka and Eevka. They described the 

 country as exactly the same as that which we already 

 knew — moor, swamp, and bog, with plenty of lakes, 

 large and small. They had met nothing of interest, 

 except ducks, geese, and swans. These birds were now 

 evidently leaving their breeding haunts and retiring into 

 the tundra to moult. During this period of comparative 

 helplessness and inability to fly, they are attacked by the 

 Samoyedes on their way back from Varandai and the 

 Bolshai Tundra. The Samoyedes have grand battues 

 amongst the geese, and return to the Petchora laden with 

 feathers and down, which they sell at the Pinega fair. 

 Our men brought back with them but one bird. This 



