SLOW PROGRESS 



303 



have made a large bag. I got at least five shots at 

 seventy to ninety yards, but with a 20-bore gun missed 

 them all. The villagers were very hospitable, inviting 

 us into their houses and offering us tea and milk. In 

 the afternoon I had a stroll in the forest, on the other 

 side of the Kureika. The sun was burning hot, but 

 whenever I exposed myself to the wind it was icy cold. 

 I bagged a pair of Lapp-tits, a brace of pine grosbeaks, 

 and a couple of nuthatches. 



We had now been a week at our winter quarters, and 

 were hoping that the advent of May would bring us 

 warmer weather and more birds. My tale of skins had 

 only reached forty, and many of these were snow- 

 buntings, which I shot merely to keep Glinski in practice. 

 My list of birds identified within the Arctic Circle had 

 only reached twelve, and I was beginning to be impatient 

 of the slow progress. 



TUNGUSK PIPE AND BELT 



