. The birds of Siberia; a record of a naturalist's visits to the valleys of the Petchora and Yenesei . ls, as the sun got low, he would certainly havefallen into a regular mosquito fever. We were told thatthis pest of mosquitoes was nothing as yet to what itwould become later. Wait a while, said our Jobscomforter, and you will not be able to see each otherat twenty paces distance ; you will not be able to aimwith your gun, for the moment you raise your barrel halfa dozen regiments of mosquitoes will rise between youand the sight. When the coolness of evening set in we 164 STANAVIALACHTA REVISI
. The birds of Siberia; a record of a naturalist's visits to the valleys of the Petchora and Yenesei . ls, as the sun got low, he would certainly havefallen into a regular mosquito fever. We were told thatthis pest of mosquitoes was nothing as yet to what itwould become later. Wait a while, said our Jobscomforter, and you will not be able to see each otherat twenty paces distance ; you will not be able to aimwith your gun, for the moment you raise your barrel halfa dozen regiments of mosquitoes will rise between youand the sight. When the coolness of evening set in we 164 STANAVIALACHTA REVISITED had pretty good shooting for an hour or two ; but afternine or ten oclock we found nothing. There is verylittle to be met on the tundra or anywhere else at mid-night, for in spite of brilliant sunshine, the birds retire toroost at the proper time and all is hushed. Our best findwas the nest of a velvet scoter. We shot the female asshe rose from it ; there were eioht eo-o-s in it and a Qroodsupply of down. It was placed under a dwarf birch, farfrom any lake or water. We shot three willow-grouse. WATCHING GREY PLOVERS THROUGH A CLOUD OF MOSQUITOES and caught three young birds in down. While we wereseeking for them the male frequently flew past withineasy shot, and the female ran about with head depressedand wings drooping, coming sometimes within two orthree yards of us. We saw two pairs of wood sandpiperswho had established themselves in a small space ofmarshy ground. They evidently had young, for theywere continually flying round and alighting upon thewillows. To search for young in down, through longgrass, wearing mosquito-veils must prove a vain questand we did not long pursue it. We caught the young ofthe Lapland bunting, and shot one of this years shore- A RUSSO-TURKISH BATH 165 larks, a very pretty bird. We saw a few divers, a largeharrier or eagle, and on the shore of the Petchora wewatched a flock of Siberian herring-gulls stealing fishfrom the nets of the Samoyedes,
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