SIBERIA IN EUROPE. 



CHAP. XI. 



It was a curious fact that the day following, on returning 

 to the spot where we had seen and shot so many various 

 birds, we found it deserted ; there were nothing but willow- 

 warblers on it. Ked-throated pipits passed over singly and 

 in flocks ; but none seemed disposed to alight. In a plan- 

 tation hard by, we heard a chafiBnch sing ; but we did not get 

 a shot at it. We fell in there with a small flock of bram- 

 blings,* and secured a male that was not yet in full breeding 

 plumage. On the following day a thick mist came up the 

 Petchora, which cleared up about noon, and was followed by 

 a north-west breeze with gleams of sunshine and threatenings 

 of rain. Birds were few and sang little, the note of the 

 warblers being almost the only one we heard. We had an 

 excellent opportunity of identifying a white-tailed eagle, 

 that came almost within shot of us. Two cranes t passed 



Southern Europe. Eastwards it winters 

 in South Siberia, occasionally wander- 

 ing as far as the northern states of 

 Jv'orth America. In the valley of the 

 Petchora we did not observe it farther 

 north than latitude 65J°. 



* The brambling (^Fringilla monti- 

 fringilla, Linn.) appears to be confined 

 to the eastern hemisphere, visiting the 

 British Islands in flocks during the 

 winter. It breeds throughout the north- 

 ern portions of the palaiarctic region 

 frequenting the pine, and especially 

 the birch forests at or near the limit 

 of forest growth, wintering in most 

 parts of Central and Southern Europe, 

 and occasionally crossing the Mediter- 

 ranean. Eastwards it winters in India, 



North China, and Japan. In the valley 

 of the Petchora we found it an abundant 

 species up to the Arctic circle. 



t The common crane (^Grus com- 

 munis, Bechst.) is confined to the 

 eastern hemisphere, being replaced in 

 America by two allied species, Grvs 

 canadiensis (Temm.) and Grus frater- 

 culas (Baird). The increase of popu- 

 lation has caused the crane to become 

 little more than an accidental visitor 

 to the British Islands. It formerly 

 bred throughout the whole of Europe, 

 wherever marshes of sufficient extent 

 and solitude were to be found, which 

 principally remain at the present time 

 in Spain, Arctic Europe, and Turkey, 

 It winters in the basin of the Mediter- 



