io8 



SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP. X. 



toil of wading through water, snow, mud, and drift-wood. The 

 commonest and noisiest bird was the redpole. Next to it 

 strange to say, was the meadow pipit. This bird behaved in 

 every way like the tree pipit, being occasionally seen on the 

 ground, but mostly up in the trees ; sometimes singing on 

 the ground, sometimes when on the wing, oftener in the 

 branches overhead. 



We had just decided that these birds were, or ought to 

 be the tree pipits, when we shot down half-a-dozen from 

 among the branches, and finally satisfied ourselves that 

 they were the meadow pipit. Our astonishment was still 

 greater, however, when we beheld three gulls quietly perched 

 upon the top of a tall birch in the wood. We watched them 

 for some time, examining them through our glasses ; at last 

 they rose and flew over our heads, and by their cry we 

 recognised them to be the familiar Larus canus; shortly 

 afterwards we shot one. 



Fieldfares and redwings were sprinkled through the 

 woods ; we could almost always hear the song of the latter 

 bird, as well as the loose cry of the former, and its starling- 

 like note before alighting. My companions saw a couple of 

 redstarts chasing each other, and I followed a willow-wren,* 



* The common willow -warbler 

 (Phylloscopus trochilus, Linn.) is one 

 of the most abundant of the numerous 

 songsters which visit the British Islands 

 every spring, arriving early in April. 

 Throughout that month, as well as in 

 May and June, its familiar song, like 

 a peal of little bells, resounds in every 

 wood and garden. This species breeds 



in Western, Central, and Northern 

 Europe. I found it common in Norway 

 up to the North Cape. Colonel Irby 

 found it breeding abundantly near 

 Gibraltar. It is said ' only to pass 

 through Italy in spring and summer 

 on migration. Mr. Danford tells me 

 that it breeds in Transylvania, but Dr. 

 Kriiper informed me when I was in 



