164 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



that we made our fire in the open, and had just finished " tea " when 

 rain commenced, which continued all the way to Kola. Another 

 Eversmann's Warbler was singing here near the hut. 



Only one boat was to be found here, the other having been 

 borrowed by the timber-men ; and as our party had now increased 

 to eleven, besides a dog and six loads, there was considerable doubt 

 for a time whether some would not have to walk or remain behind. 

 At last at 7.50 a.m. all were safely stowed on board (somewhat like 

 sardines in a box), and the boat proved a good sound one, for she 

 leaked very little with the water only two or three inches below the 

 top of the gunwale. That voyage down the river was not a pleasant 

 part of the journey ; the rain poured down at times, and drizzled the 

 remainder. Both men and women must have been wet to the skin, 

 as most of them wore only their summer clothes. Musters and I 

 escaped, thanks to our macintoshes and leggings. This " water 

 picnic " ended at eleven, and we reached Kola before noon, very glad 

 to be back in our old comfortable quarters. 



July 2nd, — A priest here had asked us to bring him some pine- 

 cones with seed ; one of those sweet lovable old men who win you at 

 once, so that it was with real regret I was only able to take him a 

 few poor cones to-day, the only ones we had seen during the whole 

 of our stay in the interior. I explained that if they had been as 

 plentiful as mosquitoes he should have had any quantity. He was 

 much surprised to hear we rarely saw these insects in England, and 

 said we made so much smoke there it must kill them all, an aspect of 

 the smoke nuisance I had not heard before ! 



We crossed the Kola river and went up to the tarns visited on 

 May 26th. The young Ravens we had then seen in the nest were now 

 on the hill, but the Bean-Geese had gone. A small colony of Arctic 

 Terns had eggs and young on the island in the largest pool ; on which 

 also was a Redshank's nest with four eggs. Near the side of the tarn 

 a pair of Red-necked Phalaropes had a nest with four eggs, the only 

 one found this year. We found both lately hatched young and eggs 



