2 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



down to the sea-level, and the country presented the appearance of 

 mid-winter rather than the last fortnight in spring. 



I had chartered the s.s. Expres for our voyage, a small steamer 

 built of iron, and therefore quite unfit to encounter ice ; her accom- 

 modation also was limited, and a voyage on her for some weeks might 

 be distinctly described as " roughing it/' compared with the comforts 

 of an ordinary English yacht, or even the s.s. Laura, in which we had 

 made our voyage of 1897. Still the Expres could carry a good supply 

 of coal, and she had made several voyages of exploration round the 

 Spitsbergen coasts, notably Sir Martin Conway's expedition in 1896. 

 The Expres came into the harbour three hours after our arrival, 

 and the remainder of the day was fully occupied with unpacking 

 stores, &c. 



May 2 1 St. — The weather had been so stormy during the whole of 

 the preceding day, our departure was delayed till this morning, when 

 we started early for the outer belt of islands. The warmer air off 

 the sea had melted much of the snow here, but great drifts still re- 

 mained in all directions, and icicles three feet long adorned the sides 

 of the gullies. The only birds which had commenced to lay were a 

 few Grey Lag-Geese Anser cinereus, Great Black-backed Gulls Larus 

 marinuSy and Herring Gulls Larus argentatus ; and the owner of the 

 first island had sent less than a score of eggs to market. Even the 

 Hooded Crows Corvus comix, had not yet built here, although they 

 had eggs on the next group of islands. At the same date in 1896 

 there were hundreds of Gulls' eggs in all directions, and gathering for 

 sale was nearly over as far as the early species were concerned. Many 

 small birds, which do not breed on the island, were feeding on the 

 open spaces, waiting for the weather to improve and allow them to 

 proceed to their usual haunts. Among them we identified five Twites 

 Linota flavirostris, the first either of us had seen within the Arctic 

 Circle, although Professor Collett states it is common on some parts 

 of the coast and islands as far north as Tromso.^ 



1 "Eemarks on the Ornithology of Northern Norway," p. 211. 



