DON COSSACKS. 
331 
ten young ones at a time; and it is supposed, C “, A ( P ’ 
from the hoard prepared, that the suslic does ^ - > — 
not sleep, like the surohe, during winter. All 
the upper part of its body is of a deep yellow, 
spotted with white. Its neck is beautifully 
white, the breast yellowish, and the belly a 
mixed colour of yellow and grey: it has, 
moreover, a black forehead, reddish white 
temples, and a white chin. The rest of its 
head is of an ash-coloured yellow; and the ears 
are remarkably small. Among the feathered 
race in the steppes, we particularly noticed, 
during this part of our journey, certain birds 
called Staritchi, or Elders, which appear in 
flocks: they are held by the people in super- 
stitious veneration. One of these birds is about 
the size of a snipe: its colour is brown; but 
the breast is white; and its shape is very 
elegant. 
Such are the observations which we made 
during the second day of our journey across 
the steppes. We halted at a place called Nature of 
Or r Villages 
oucliovskaia, and proceeded afterwards to Rosso- named in 
c hinskaia, a single hut in the middle of the Maps, 
waste. Yet such are often the villages, not to 
say towns and cities, which figure in the 
Russian maps. This place consisted of a single 
