BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 137 



We saw a number of Lemmings swimming over the river ; and the 

 Russian told us that round Pulozero this spring there had been great 

 numbers, which had now gone towards the north. Musters caught sight 

 of a male Tufted Duck Fuligula cristata apparently wounded, as the 

 bird did not attempt to fly away but only stretched itself flat on the 

 water as the boat approached, without sinking its body. The species 

 has not been previously recorded from this district, though Pleske 

 mentions it at Kandalax and near Kola, the two extremities of the 

 route. Common Scoters were very numerous on this part of the 

 river. On reaching the landing-place at 2.30 a.m. we found the only 

 hut full of men women and children, and a party of men from the 

 sawmill at Kola asleep in the wood under a calico sheet. That hut 

 was clearly impossible for us, although our men afterwards found 

 space on the floor somewhere, so we made a fire and cooked supper 

 in the open. Unfortunately, rain began soon after we lay down, and 

 the splash of the raindrops on my mackintosh became irritating in 

 time ! None of us got much more than four hours' rest, for these 

 pine-trees give absolutely no shelter. 



June 2nd. — After paying off our two Lapps, from whom we were 

 very sorry to part, we walked across the three versts separating 

 Murdozero from the bottom end of Pulozero lake, as the river is here 

 a series of rapids. The rain had now cleared off and the sun soon 

 made walking with a load anything but a pleasure. As the men had 

 to cross three times with the luggage, and there was some delay in 

 getting the boat ready, it was 6. i 5 before a start was made on the 

 lake. Pulozero lake is 1 5 versts long, and our Russian said i o 

 versts were still covered with ice, which would oblige us to walk 

 15 to 18 versts round the shore, not at all an agreeable prospect. 

 The small birds were beginning to nest ; we saw a White Wagtail 

 and Reed-Bunting, both building. I thought I had secured another 

 Lapp Tit's nest, but after cutting out the hole in the tree, found 

 it was a Redstart's with two eggs. For the first two or three versts 

 the lake was open, but on turning a corner, miles of ice stretched 



