338 THE MARCH-PAST OF THE MIGRANTS 



was moored so that the stern might ground as soon as 

 the next fall of the water took place, that we might be 

 able to form some idea of the extent of injury she had 

 sustained. She was making about two inches of water 

 an hour. 



Birds continued to be very abundant for some days. 

 Flocks of Arctic wagtails arrived. I shot three males, 



one of them showing rudi- 

 ments of an eye-stripe. The 

 blue-throated warbler also 

 arrived. I shot four, two 

 males and two females, I 

 also shot a brambling and 

 another little white-fronted 

 goose. Meanwhile, all day, 

 the cuckoo was vigorously 

 announcing that he too had 

 reached these regions. I 

 shot a great snipe, and Cap- 

 tain Wiggins got another. 

 I also got a plover, which 

 turned out to be a species 

 which I had never seen in the flesh before — the Asiatic 

 golden plover. 



In the evening there was an Ostiak funeral. The 

 wife of one of the men living in a choom near the ship 

 died. The funeral party consisted of half a dozen 

 Ostiaks. Early in the morning they crossed the creek, 

 where the ship was lying, in a boat, and then mounted 

 the hill to the top of the bank. First came the Ostiaks, 

 carrying the corpse slung on a pole. Then followed men 

 with axe, pick, and spade, then women with materials for 

 baking bread and making tea, and finally came the empty 

 coffin. It took nearly all day to dig the grave out of the 



OSTIAK PIPE 



