TO RUSSIA AND BACK. 13 
than eight were displayed. The preparations were really 
very neat, and each had a separate label. In the Interna- 
tional Exhibition of 1862, there was a very similar series of 
the dried contents of the gizzards of the chief birds of 
France. 
The University was founded by Elizabeth, daughter of 
Peter the Great. There are seventy-five professors, and the 
library contains about 160,000 books. 
The line of railway which connects the two chief cities of 
Russia is straight as an arrow. The story goes, that the 
Tzar took a ruler and drew a line across the map, and said 
to the government engineer, “That is how the railway is to 
go.” He made it accordingly, and it is 403 miles long. 
On re-visiting the live-bird stalls at St. Petersburgh I 
saw pretty much the same species as before, and a few 
additional ones, to wit, the Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, 
Creeper, and Lapwing. In a poulterer’s window I saw a 
stuffed Blackcock most beautifully pied, and a hybrid be- 
tween that species and the Willow Grouse. I purchased a 
Green Woodpecker and a Goldeneye Duck, and tried to 
skin them, but the Woodpecker was almost too stale for 
the purpose. It is difficult to see what birds the poulterers 
have, for they keep them shut up in lockers instead of hang- 
ing them out. 
On the 24th I saw a Waxwing at the Exchange Gardens 
for sale, and bought a Missel Thrush. On the 25th I 
dropped on to some fresh birds at the market, three Little 
Stints, a Dunlin, a Ring-Dotterel (Charadrius intermedius), 
and a young Grey Plover, which was so yellow that but for 
its black axillaries it might have passed for a Golden. 
The close of the month was wet, and I was not sorry to 
leave on the 28th of September, after collecting fifty-nine 
birds, a considerable number for so short a time. St. 
Petersburgh is wonderfully hot in summer, considering how 
far north it is; but the climate appears to suit the English, 
