40 



their breeding-grounds ; and we found in a work upon the birds of the Volga, published by the 

 University of Kasan, the information that the Little and Temminck's Stints are seen in flocks 

 during the first fortnight in May on the Volga, from Ssimbirsk to Kasan, and on the Kama 

 as far as Ufa. In summer they are not seen, but are found in the middle of August again at 

 Ssimbirsk. The stragglers who wander as far as Archangel and the North Cape may be barren 

 birds who have nothing else to do. 



" It was not until the middle of July that we were able to visit the islands at the mouth of 

 the Petchora. Alexievka is the lading-port of the Petchora Timber-trading Company. Every 

 autumn ships arrive to load with larch for Cronstadt; and to enable those ships to enter the 

 lagoons of the Petchora, and navigate its difficult waters, various beacons and other signals have 

 to be placed on sundry islands, promontories, and sandbanks. The rafts which bring down the 

 timber from the interior also frequently require help when the water of the Petchora begins to 

 subside ; and, for these and other purposes connected with the business of the company, a steamer 

 is kept at Alexievka during the few summer months of the year. The beacons on the Golievski 

 banks are washed away every spring by the ice; and on the 13th July Captain Engel invited us to 

 accompany him on his annual trip to replace or repair them. We gladly seized the opportunity, 

 and spent about four hours on island No. 4, and a couple of hours on island No. 3. The former 

 island, and as much of the latter as our limited time enabled us to explore, are barren sandbanks 

 without a blade of grass upon them. Nevertheless we found them frequented by large flocks of 

 Dunlins and small parties of Sanderlings, which were feeding at the water's edge and on the 

 shallow pools left by the tide. They were very wild, and we had some difficulty in getting 

 within shot. We secured five Sanderlings (three males, and two females). The testes of the 

 males were small, and the eggs in the ovaries of the females not larger than dust-shot. Both 

 males and females showed signs of moulting; and in both sexes we detected bare places like 

 sitting-spots, but not very recent ones. Whether these flocks were composed of last year's birds 

 and were not breeding, or whether they had already bred, is an extremely interesting question, 

 which we were unable to solve. On island No. 2, and at the east end of island No. 3, there is 

 said to be grass ; and these birds, as well as the Curlew Sandpiper, probably breed there. 



" We left the islands deeply lamenting our inability to explore them further ; and having 

 dropped a carrabas on the William bank, and a long pole, with a besom on the top and a large 

 stone at the bottom, upon the Alexander bank, we passed Cape Constantinovka, and cast anchor 

 at Dvoinik, or ' the twin capes.' The beacon on the promontory had been destroyed by the 

 Samoyedes ; and a new one had to be erected, which gave us a couple of hours to explore the 

 country. As soon as we landed we struck out at once onto the tundra. We had not gone far 

 before we came upon what we at once recognized as Grey-Plover ground ; and we very soon heard 

 the familiar cry of a pair of these birds, who showed by their actions that they had eggs or young 

 near. Harvie-Brown stopped to watch these birds, and I went on alone ; but finding that the 

 character of the tundra did not vary much as far as the eye could reach, I turned sharp to the 

 north towards a range of sand hills lying between the sea and a number of lakes. As soon as I 

 reached the nearest of these lakes I caught sight of a large flock of Sandpipers flying up and 

 down the bank. They were very wild ; but by hiding amongst some dwarf willows in a cleft of 

 the edge of the tundra, I succeeded in getting a shot at them, and dropped three onto the 



