BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 91 



by the chart, for the Bugryanitza is near the centre of the large bay 

 to the south of Cape Kanin. 



The first glance over the country showed it to be so similar in 

 general appearance to that round the Gobista river in Kolguev that I 

 could almost imagine we were there again, and all our further investi- 

 gations confirmed the resemblance. The river is too shallow to admit 

 even a small ship's boat like that belonging to the Expres, except at 

 high tide, and the sea bottom outside shelves so gradually that the 

 steamer was obliged to anchor three-quarters of a mile off shore in 

 3 J fathoms. 



As we rowed in to land, a flock of male and female Common 

 Eider flew past along the shore; and we saw them over the sea on 

 several other occasions, but did not meet with them on land. About 

 a dozen Glaucous Gulls, most of them mature, stood on the sand bar 

 watching our arrival; they were careful, however, both then and 

 during the remainder of our stay, to leave before we came within 

 range. The next bird to claim attention was very different in size, a 

 Mealy Redpoll anxious about her nest of four eggs in a sallow bush 

 close to our landing-place. On taking them next day, after a vain 

 effort to secure a good photo, they proved to be too incubated to blow. 

 The nest, which was lined with feathers and sallow fluff, had certainly 

 been used last year ; in fact I was inclined to think there were traces 

 of its being three seasons old, but of this I could not be sure. 



The steepness of the bluff made it hard work for the men carrying 

 up the tents and stores, but when at last all were at the top, and the 

 former securely fixed, it would have been difficult to find a more 

 desirable position. We were on the north bank with the tents facing 

 to the south ; the soil was dry and covered with a short firm vegeta- 

 tion which made a good tent-floor, and did not work into nmd in the 

 first twenty-four hours like that at Lutni. The chapel, too, formed a 

 useful shelter, if small, from any possible x.w. gales. On the west 

 stretched the coast in a huge crescent, and of a more pronounced 

 curve than is shown on the charts ; a straight line drawn between the 



