BIRDS OF THE TUNDRA 407 



Birds were abundant. Golden plover, Arctic tern, ruffs, 

 red-necked phalarope, snow-bunting, Lapland bunting, 

 and dunlin were continually in sight, and I shot a couple 

 of female Little stints, the first I had seen in the valley 

 of the Yenesei. On the tundra, the commonest bird was 

 the Asiatic golden plover. They were breeding in every 

 spot that we visited. My attempts to watch them on to 

 the nests were vain, but from their behaviour I came to 

 the conclusion that they had young. Just as we were 

 leaving the swamp we picked up a young plover not 

 many days old. The European golden plover was very 

 rare, and we only shot one brace. The note of the 

 Asiatic golden plover is very similar to that of the grey 

 plover. Its commonest note is a plaintive ko. Occasion- 

 ally the double note kle-e is heard, but oftener the triple 

 note kl-ee ko is uttered. Ringed plover were plentiful 

 on the barer places on the tundra. Wagtails seemed 

 entirely to have disappeared ; the redpoll and the red- 

 throated pipit were still found, but were not abundant. 

 In the small valleys running up into the tundra we 

 frequently saw willow-grouse, and on the high ground 

 I shot some rock ptarmigan [Lagopus rupestris). In 

 some of these valleys the snow was still lying ; flowers 

 were very brilliant ; but we did not come upon any 

 shrubs more than a foot high. Occasionally gulls, divers, 

 and swans flew past us overhead, but I did not see any 

 skuas on this part of the tundra until later. On the 21st 

 of July I moved all my luggage from the Ibis to the 

 steamer belonging to Kittman and Co., where I engaged 

 a passage to Yeneseisk. I secured a small cabin next 

 the paddle-box, just large enough for myself and Glinski 

 to work in. For this I paid twenty-five roubles. My 

 large casks were on the barge, at a freight of sixty 

 kopecks a pood, and we were each charged sixty kopecks 



