CHAP. XIV. 



A WEDDING. 



153 



man would say) were present, except the public prosecutor. 

 It was an exceedingly formal and slow affair ; the only 

 feature of interest being the assemblage of villagers outside, 

 who sang a melancholy tune, while two or three couples 

 slowly walked round each other in a depressed fashion ; the 

 gentleman taking hold of one of the lady's arms by the 

 elbow, the other arm interlaced in hers. The girls wore 

 their hair plaited in a pigtail behind, at the end of which a 

 cross-bar was attached, from which dangled half-a-dozen 

 broad ribbons like a banner screen. They kept their eyes 

 fixed on the ground as they danced, and lifted a handker- 

 chief of many colours to their mouths. All the time vodka 

 was served from a tin-can ; and through the afternoon and 

 evening, the part of the room near the door was filled with 

 an ever-changing crowd of peasant maidens, who came to 

 have a good stare at the bride and bridegroom ; and having 

 gazed their fill, retired to make way for others, who entered 

 and did likewise. 



The next morning a stroll up the chiff-chaff valley resulted 

 in nothing ; but as we were returning home, I heard the 

 song of a bird that was quite new to me. Four notes loud 

 and clear. I shot the little songster, and it proved to be a male 

 scarlet bullfinch.* It was in company with another bird, but 

 this one escaped us. We heard the cuckoo in our morning 



* The scarlet bullfinch (^Oarpodacus 

 erythrinus, Pall.) is confined to the 

 eastern hemisphere, breeding somewhat 

 south of the Arctic Circle, and acci- 

 dentally visiting the British Islands 

 only in winter. Its breeding range 



extends from Finland to Kamtchatka. 

 In winter it is a more or Uss irregular 

 straggler in Europe, but is found abun- 

 dantly in Persia, India, and China. In 

 the valley of the Petchora we did not ob- 

 serve it farther north than latitude 65|° 



