NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 391 



appeared to him remarkable, for further examination and identi- 

 fication on his return. His observations on these, as given in 

 appendices to his volume, include information of much interest. 

 He was lucky enough to find eggs, both of the Grey Plover 

 (Squatarola helvetica), and the Little Stint {Tringa minuta). 

 Two specimens of the Curlew Sandpiper (Tringa subarquata) 

 were found, but the hoped-for discovery of a nest of this species 

 baffled all his endeavours ; nor did any nest of the Knot (Tringa 

 canutus) reward an unwearied search for it. 



Perhaps the most curious portion of his narrative is that in 

 which he describes the Samoyede method of catching Brent 

 Geese, which constitute the chief winter provision of these 

 wandering people. The birds are captured at a time when the 

 majority of them are moulting their quill feathers, and are 

 consequently unable to fly. They are then driven into nets, and 

 the enormous number captured by this means seems almost 

 incredible. Mr. Trevor Battye thus describes the modus 

 operandi : — 



11 A low-lying stretch of land, half peat, half grass and marsh, and an 

 island on the tidal flats, some four acres in extent. Round this, now that 

 the tide was out, sand or shallow water, which deepened to a wide creek 

 against the islands southern bank. Beyond this again sand or mud in 

 ridges, and creek after creek. Further yet, perhaps three miles to seaward, 

 the long line of the outer sandbank with its piled-up ice — and then the sea. 



So bad was the day that only now and then as the mist lifted could you 

 see the farthest ridges and the higher banks of mud. But when the 

 banks appeared, they were crested with a chevaux de /rise, which we knew 

 were serried lines of geese. Seven boats under the command of the 

 younger men were soon slipping down the creeks ; for they were to get 

 behind the geese. Then the reindeer teams were driven out, three on one 

 side and four on the other, remaining as near as possible equidistant, to 

 prevent escape by the flanks. All were now away except Uano, his wife 

 Katrina, two or three small girls, the little boy Wanka, and myself. 

 Katrina nursed her baby. 



Before half an hour was gone by the geese began to rise. We could 

 see them through the rain getting up in hundreds off the sands. Away 

 behind us on the island was the trap. I must describe this particularly. 

 At the water's edge, thirty yards apart, two poles were fixed, to which a 

 net was fastened. The net was then carried inland, the two walls 

 converging, until, at a point some forty yards from the entrance, they were 

 not more than five yards apart. From this point they bellied out, aud 



