ii8 



SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP. XI. 



We shot a red-throated pipit on the ground, solitary among 

 a company of meadow pipits. We secured a green wagtail 

 and a short-eared owl.* In that favoured spot the willow 

 warblers congregated and were in full song ; the blue-throated 

 warblers were also there, but their song was not so full ; it 

 resembled sometimes the warble of the pipit, and sometimes 

 that of the whitethroat. We secured, besides, a brace of 

 golden plover and a reed-bunting. 



During the afternoon we visited the skirts of the pine- 

 forest in the valley, and there I shot two male whea tears. 

 The day before a male and female wheatear had flown past 

 me, and perched on the summit of a tall pine. Out of a 

 spruce fir in the wood we now heard a loud, clear " chiff- 

 cheff-ciiaff." We thought it was the cry of the chifpchaff ; 

 but we failed to find the bird. Shortly after we heard a 

 warbler singing. For a moment we fancied it was a willow- 

 wren ; but before the song was half finished, we felt convinced 

 that we were unacquainted with it. It was not unlike the 

 chiff-cheflf-chaff of our bird when it makes the third variation 

 it occasionally does in its notes ; but these notes were more 

 musical, repeated rapidly without intermission, running into 



* The short-eared owl {Asia brachy- 

 otus, Forst.) is a circumpolar bird, and 

 is principally a winter visitant to the 

 British Islands, a few, however, re- 

 maining to breed. It is found in sum- 

 mer in North Europe, but is only a 

 winter visitor to South Europe and 

 Africa, where it has occurred as far 

 south as Natal. Eastwards it is found 

 throughout Siberia, passing through 



Turkestan on migration, ■wintering in 

 Persia, India, Burmah, and South China. 

 On the American continent it breeds in 

 various parts of Canada and the United 

 States and in winter has been found 

 as far south as Chili and the Falkland 

 Islands. In the valley of the Petchora 

 we did not meet with it much beyond 

 the Arctic circle. 



