NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 47 



■without passing our points of observation. There can be little 

 doubt, we think, that the valley of the great Petchora river, in 

 conjunction with that of the Volga, forms one of the great 

 channels along which the vernal migrants pour in a great wave 

 from south-west to north-east,* but that many species, when they 

 reach Ust Ussa, — at the junction of the rivers Ussa and Petchora, 

 GOO miles from the junction of the latter with the sea, — do not 

 go out of their course by following down the river past Ust Zylma, 

 ]Dut continue their journey to the northward, spreading, like the 

 rays of a fan, over the northern tundras and forests, or flying 

 direct to their breeding haunts on the shores of the Arctic sea. 



In some seasons, no doubt, this movement may be ruled by 

 prevailing winds on their arrival at Ust Ussa, in conjunction with 

 cold or heat or want of food, lateness or earliness of the Arctic 

 summer ; and therefore, while in some seasons they thus pursue 

 their northerly course, as in 1875, in others they may be compelled 

 to pass Ust Zylma. In illustration of a parallel case, I may 

 instance what the authors of a Eussian work, treating of the birds 

 of the Volga, say. They tell us that the Grey Plover is seen 

 both in May and in September, i.e., on their vernal and autumnal 

 migrations, in small flocks, at Kasan, hut not every year. (Fide 

 " Ibis," April, 1876). 



It is also possible that we missed some of the other migrants by 

 leaving as early as the 11th of June. Thus, at Ust Zylma, before 

 that date, we only saw two Wigeons, which we afterwards found 

 to be the most abundant species of duck down the river and on 

 the delta ; and we were told by the sportsmen at Ust Zylma, that 

 they generally arrive en masse, some time after the Pintail ducks 

 put in an appearance. On the other hand, however, we found 

 these two species breeding at Ilabariki at the same date, — the 

 beginning of June, — and only a few days after the arrival of the 

 latter, which was first noticed by us on the 18th May. I do not 

 think, however, that we can have missed many species in this way. 



I now proceed to tabulate the species met with. Under the 

 heading " Eemarks " in the following columns, C. stands for 

 common ; R, rare ; A., abundant. 



* Vide "Encyclopedia Brltannica," Ninth Edition, Vol. ii., 1S76, p. 75S, 

 where Professor Newton, in his article " Birds," quotes Von Middendorff*s 

 *' Die isepiptesen Ensslands, Grundlagen zur Erfoschung der Zugzeiten und 

 Zugrichtungen der Vogel Ensslands. St. Petersburg, 1855." 



