CHAP. VIII. 



JACKDAWS. 



79 



ramble in the woods at the back of the town ; but travelling 

 was very laborious, and we returned to our quarters with 

 broken snow-shoes, and without having remarked anything 

 of special interest. With the exception of a yellow-hammer, 

 which was making a feeble attempt to sing, we scarcely saw 

 or heard a bird. One effect of the thaw was to banish the 

 snow-buntings from the town to the country. Although this 

 bird is thick-billed, and undoubtedly feeds on grain and 

 seeds during the winter, it appears to change its diet to some 

 extent during the breeding season. When I was in Lapland 

 I found it nesting amongst the rocks on the island of Vadso, 

 in the Varanger Fjord. Not far distant, down by the shore 

 was the great whaling establishment of Mr, Foyne, where an 

 .average of three whales a week were cut up. The snow- 

 buntings visited the yard constantly, which abounded with 

 insects attracted by the offal ; and the stomachs of some 

 \\'hich I shot and skinned proved to be full of insects. 



During this sloppy season we confined our walks pretty 

 much to the town itself, carrying our walking-stick guns in 

 case a new bird should turn up. On the 3rd of May we were 

 rewarded by seeing for the first time a pair of jackdaws.* 



* The jackdaw (Cormis monedula, 

 Linn.) is a resident throughout Europe 

 and in many parts of North Africa. 

 Specimens from Eastern Europe fre- 

 quently are much whiter on the collar, 

 and may be considered as a sub-species, 

 coUaris (Drumm.) whicb extends east- 

 wards as far as the watershed of the 

 Obb - and the Yenesay, southwards 

 through Cashmere to North-West 

 India ; still farther to the east a more 



distinct or nearly allied species is found 

 ■ — ■ Conms dauuricus (Pall.) — distin- 

 guished by having the collar still whiter, 

 and also by having the vent white. 

 The variety which we found in the 

 valley of the Petchora was the Corvus 

 Tnonedula, subspecies coUaris. We found 

 this bird common on our journey as 

 far as Mezen, and afterwards only met 

 with a solitary pair at Ust-Zylma. 



