BOOKS.

SIBERIA IN EUROPE.* MR. SEEBOHH is a naturalist, and for ornithology his enthusiasm knows no bounds. This volume affords a singular illustration of the buoyancy of spirit and the patient heroism of men who are swayed by a strong passion. The traveller to one of the most northern, unattractive, and distant corners of Europe was fortu- nate enough to secure a companion in Mr. Harvie-Brown, whose ardour was equal to his own ; and the minute account here given of a country almost wholly unknown to Englishmen is not without interest. We do not think the book will attract readers who seek in a record of travel amusement for an idle hour. The country described is in many respects uninterest- ing, and Mr. Seebohm, when he leaves his birds, to talk about scenery or about human beings, is not particularly successful.

His style has little of the charm which allures the reader to follow an author wherever he may choose to lead him, and, as we have already hinted, the information contained in the volume will be valued chiefly by the ornithologist. The author says truly that his travels possess the attraction of novelty, since the conditions of life in Siberia in Europe are altogether strange to the ordinary tourist. To some extent, therefore, it may be worth while to track his footsteps, for the traveller has mach to tell of which most of us are ignorant, and there can be no doubt that his record is a faithful one. It was written chiefly on the spot, at post stations while the horses were changed, in peasants' cottages, wrecked ships, and where- ever the travellers chanced to be quartered. "The accuracy," he writes, " which ornithological observations demand, made it imperatively necessary that what was seen should be at once recorded, and many a time eighteen or twenty hours' field-work have been followed by two or three hours writing, before we allowed ourselves rest."

Mr. Seebohm begins his volume by observing that when he and his friend commenced their researches, the breeding- grounds of half-a-dozen well-known British birds, namely, the grey plover, the little stint, the sanderling, the curlew sand. piper, the knot, and Bewick's swan, were still" wrapt in mystery, to solve which had been the ambition of many field naturalists during the past twenty years." In 1872, Mr. Harvie-Brown had visited Archangel, and in 1874 Mr. Seebohm visited the north of Norway :-

" The difference between the birds found at Archangel and those. at the north of Norway was so striking, that we, as well as many of our ornithological friends, were convinced that another ten degrees east would bring us to the breeding-ground of many species new to North Earope ; and there was a chance, besides, that among these might be found some of the half-dozen birds which I have named, the discovery of whose breeding-haunts was the special object of our ambition."

It was this " chance " that led the two friends to take the long journey to Archangel, and from Archangel to the "mighty river" Petchora, a feat which no Englishman had performed for 250 years. Archangel, which is 600 miles from a railroad, is said to be declining in importance as a commercial centre. In some respects, impecunious people who do not object to exile might find it a satisfactory residence. House-rent is very cheap, and food and firing may be had for a trifle. In a town where beef is. sold for 3d. a pound and hares for 3d. each, what matters it that in April the thermometer should be sometimes 27° below zero ? Early in that month the travellers started on sledges for Ust-Zylma, on the Petchora, an expedition which was accomplished in about eight days. A fortnight later the winter road was broken up, and for " two months the valley of the Petchora was as effectually cut off from all communication with civilised Europe as if it had been in the moon. The last 150 miles had become a series of uninhabited, impassable swamps, across which no letter, nor messenger, nor telegram ever came." The journey, which is described with much detail, was not without its discomforts and perils, but in the course of it the special mission of the travellers was not forgotten, and the most interesting observation they made was " that the snow-bunting occasionally perches in trees," a fact that has been disputed.

Ust-Zylma was not an attractive residence. It is described as one vast dunghill, and when the winter frost breaks up, • Siberia in Europe; a Visit to the Valley of the Fetcher°, in North-East Russia, with Descriptions of the Natural History, Migration of Birds, &a. By Henry Seebohm. With Map and Illustrations. London : John Murray. 1880.

half the place is under water, and the peasants have to boat from house to house. The people, who are said to be crafty and faithless, "have a curious prejudice against tobacco, and will not smoke it themselves nor, if they can help it, allow other persons to smoke in their houses. They seem also to have a Jewish superstition against pork and hare, neither will they use any plate, glass, or other article from which persons not of their

religion have eaten or drunk But the most extra- ordinary feature of their religion is that it forbids the use of

potatoes as food." In creed they are Old Believers, but in what points of doctrine they differ from the Greek Church we are not told, To purchase snow-shoes was the travellers' first necessity on reaching this miserable place, which, except for ornithologists, must be wholly destitute of charm. These shoes are about seven feet long and six inches wide, made of birchwood, and covered underneath with reindeer skin. It was mid-April, but the ice was still firm, and for some time few birds made their appearance. Mr. Seebohm and his friend had, therefore, an opportunity of studying the habits of the Samoyedes, whose reindeer were often to be seen in the streets :—" The Samoyedes are a Mongolian race of people of nomad habits. They live almost entirely upon reindeer. In summer, they live in tents made of birch-bark ; in winter, their tents or chooms are made of reindeer- skins. They eat the flesh of the reindeer, and drink its blood. Their dress is made of its skins, neatly sewn together with reindeer- sinews. The wealth of a Samoyede consists entirely in the number of his reindeer." A reindeer is worth an English sovereign, and some of the Samoyedes are said to possess ten thousand. Many curious particulars are given of these almost unknown people, one of the strangest being that in crossing the tundras on cloudy nights, when the stars are invisible, they will scrape away the snow down to the moss, examine it, and alter their course accordingly. On April 28th, the naturalists ob- tained their first nest—it was that of a Siberian jay—but it was a month later before the river was free from ice. When the ice left, the mosquitoes came, and with the mosquitoes, vast flocks of birds. Now, too, came the season of triumph and glory for the ornithologists, who had been waiting patiently for a long time, with but small results. "But even the ap- proach of summer," Mr. Seebohm writes pathetically, "has its accompanying drawbacks. We had to give up at this time all hope of more winter posts, and two months might elapse before the summer ones would arrive. This break in the communica- tion with civilised Europe is one of the sorest trials to be en- dured by explorers in these districts."

Students of natural history, and especially of ornithology, will find something to interest them in almost every page of this volume. Enthusiasm like that which sustained Mr. Seebohm and Mr. Harvie-Brown in their labours stirs up enthusiasm. The man who, in order to watch a flock of sandpipers, can spend" an interesting hour" in a spot swarming

with mosquitoes, and say that his hopes, doubts, and fears made him heedless of their bites, shows a generous ardour in his pursuit which should stimulate all students of nature. It is satisfactory to know that the toil and patience of the travellers were in great measure crowned by success. Of the half-d-ozen British birds whose breeding-places were unknown, they suc- ceeded in bringing home identified eggs of three,—the grey plover, the little stint, and Bewick's swan. In the Nares Arctic

expedition, Captain Fielden discovered the breeding-ground of

the sanderling and the knot, and now there remains but one bird known in Great Britain whose eggs have never been found. The ornithologist who is fortunate enough to discover the breeding- ground of the curlew sandpiper will no doubt feel,— "Like some watcher of the skies,

When a new planet swims into his ken."

By far the most interesting and attractive passages in Mr. Seebohm's volume are descriptive of his work as a naturalist.

One extract, in which the writer describes the habits and the maternal arts of the little stint, is worth transcribing. The sportsmen had been shooting all night by the light of the mid- night sun, and were returning to their temporary quarters in a stranded ship, when they heard the cry of the bird, which alighted on the ground about eighty yards ahead of them-

" We walked slowly up towards it, and stood for some time watch- ing it busily employed in preening its feathers. By-and-by we sat down. It presently began to run towards us, stopping now and then to preen a feather or two ; then it turned back a few paces, and, lift- ing its wings, settled down, evidently on its nest, and we gave it three minutes' grace to be quite sure, and then quietly walked up to the

place and sat down, one on each side of the eggs. The bird as quietly slipped off the nest and began to walk about all round us, now and then pecking on the ground, as if feeding, seldom going more than six feet from us, and often approaching within eighteen inches. It was a most interesting and beautiful sight. The tameness of the bird was almost ludicrous. We chatted and talked, but the bird remained perfectly silent, and did not betray the slightest symptoms of fear or concern, until I touched the eggs. She then gave a flutter towards me, apparently to attract my attention. I turned towards her, and she resumed her former unconcern. I stretched my hand towards her. She quietly retreated, keeping about two feet from my hand. She seemed so extremely tame, that I almost thought for the moment that I could catch her, and getting on to all - fours, I crept quietly towards her. As soon as I began to move from the nest, her manner entirely changed. She kept about the same distance ahead of me ; but instead of retreating with the utmost nonchalance, she did everything in her power to attract me still farther. She shuffled along the ground, as if lame. She dropped her wings, as if unable to fly, and occasionally rested on her breast, quivering her drooping wings and spread tail, as if dying. I threw one of my gauntlets at her, thinking to secure her without damage, but she was too quick for me.

We waited about a quarter of an hour at the nest, talking, and making no effort to conceal ourselves, when she flew straight up, and alighted within easy shot, and I secured her."

One cannot but feel regret that the charming confidence of this bird should have been so entirely misplaced. Other little stints had been shot, so that the naturalists, apparently, were not' in want of specimens ; but too often ornithologists seem to kill for the sake of killing, and judging from Mr. Seebobra's narrative, there are no indications that the lives of birds were spared, when specimens were not needed for scientific purposes. The results of the expedition, which occupied altogether more than six months, are summed up in the closing chapter. After mentioning the principal discovery already mentioned, which identified the breeding-ground of three birds, the writer observes :- " We added several birds to the European list which had either never been found in Europe before, or only doubtfully so, such as the Siberian chiff-chaff, tho Petchora pipit, the Siberian herring-gull, the Arctic forms of the marsh-tit and the lesser spotted woodpecker, the yellow-headed wagtail, and the Asiatip stonechat. We brought home careful records of the dates of arrival of the migratory birds which breed in these northern latitudes, besides numerous observa- tions on the habits of little-known birds. Our list of skins brought home exceeded a thousand, and of eggs rather more than six hun-

dred Although the number of species breeding within the Arctic Circle is comparatively small, the number of individuals is vast beyond conception. Birds go to the Arctic regions to breed not by thousands, but by millions. The cause of this migration is to be found in the lavish prodigality with which Nature has provided food. Seed or fruit-eating birds find an immediate and abundant supply of cranberries, crowberries, and other ground fruit, which have re- mained frozen during the long winter, and are accessible the moment the snow has melted ; while insect-eating birds have only to open their mouths to fill them with mosquitoes."

We may add that a remarkable chapter on the migration of birds adds to the value of this truly excellent book. The illustrations are admirable.