Birds in South Russia. 
455 
1921.] 
their quarters to the mess, being unable to stand upright. 
(I may remark that this did not happen after dinner !) One 
of our motor cyclists was once blown into the sea with his 
machine while proceeding along the shore-road. 
My brother and I used to venture up the hillsides in 
search of birds when the nor’easter was blowing, in the hope 
of falling in with some of the rarer species which might be 
driven down from the mountains, but the birds were generally 
all congregated in the lower valleys and about the houses 
at such times, and we seldom saw anything except an occa¬ 
sional Woodcock or a few Goldfinches, which seemed to stand 
the cold better than most other birds. Whilst scrambling 
about the slopes on those expeditions, clad in great coats 
and fur caps, and grasping the trees and bushes with one 
hand whilst the other held a gun, we would hear every few 
minutes a roar, like that of an express train, heralding the 
approach of an especially violent gust as it came tearing 
down from the hill-tops, driving clouds of snow before it. 
We would then cling with both hands to a tree-trunk until 
it swept down past us, the snow first blotting out the town 
below and then billowing away across the waters of the bay, 
which would be lashed into flying spray. 
The periods of these winds were usually followed by mild 
summer-like spells, during which the great flocks of Duck, 
which had been brought down to the bay by the cold, would 
gradually dwindle and disappear to inland waters. Towards 
the end of March the duck became so weak and tame during 
the storms that they would take shelter in the streets of the 
town and allow themselves to be captured by hand or 
knocked over with stones. Bramblings and other small 
birds also suffered greatly from the cold. 
Most of my observations were made on the eastern side of 
the bay and in the bay itself, where we used to shoot Duck 
frequently. This sport was rendered somewhat exciting by 
the fact that the Russian soldiers shot at the Duck with rifles 
from the shore to such an extent that one might almost have 
imagined at times that a sharp engagement was in progress. 
When duck-shooting we used to keep our hands in our gloves 
SER. xi. —vol. hi. 2 H 
