104 



SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP., X. 



our journey. At this time we ascertained positively the 

 presence of a bird which we had long suspected to be on the 

 roof of the Preestaffs house next door to ours — a no less 

 important bird than the common sparrow.* We shot two 

 males and three females. This is an extraordinary instance 

 of the extreme localness of birds. We never by any chance 

 saw these common sparrows among the tree-sparrows t in 

 our yard, nor had we any reason to think that they were to 

 be found elsewhere in the town. 



On the 19th we received an invitation from our friends 

 the chasseurs, who had assisted us in our late wild goose 

 chase, to join them in a duck hunt. M. Znaminsky had 

 a maisonnette a few versts up the Zylma, which he turned 

 to use on such occasions of sport. He and M. Sacharoff 

 were already there. We accepted the invitation, and after 

 sledging across the Petchora, and perhaps four versts up the 

 Zylma, we reached our host's quarters at about 3 a.m. We 

 had made a somewhat circuitous road up the Zylma, for 



having the head and neck glossed with 

 purple and not with green, and in 

 having the bare place round the bill 

 of much smaller extent. 



* The common sparrow (^Passer 

 domesticus, Linn.) appears originally to 

 have been confined to Europe, North 

 Africa, and Asia as far east as the 

 watershed of the Yenesay and the 

 Lena, but it has been introduced in 

 almost every British colony, the United 

 States, many of the Pacific Islands, 

 West Indies, New Zealand, Australia, 

 &c. It is generally a resident species, 

 except where the winters are very 



severe. In the valley of the Petchora 

 we did not find it farther north than 

 latitude 68°. 



t The tree sparrow (^Passer montanus, 

 Linn.) appears to be confined to the 

 eastern hemisphere, being a not vin- 

 comraon resident in the British Islands, 

 and is found throughout Europe, occa- 

 sionally crossing the Mediterranean. 

 In Asia it is found as far as the Pacific, 

 extending southwards to North India, 

 Burmah, and South China ; being every- 

 where more or less a resident. In the 

 valley of the Petchora we found it as 

 far north as latitude 68°. 



