348 ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 



of Kamtschatka. We know that it does not travel southward over the 

 Kuril Islands and Japan. It seems, then, a pretty safe conclusion, that 

 the Swallow, at least, crosses the Okotsk Sea from some point on the 

 western coast of Kamtschatka, and that when arriving on the opposite 

 coast of the Okotsk Sea it meets the Stanovoj Mountains, it follows the 

 eastern slope of that range southward, turning westward at Udskij 

 Ostrog where the mountains also turn westward. 



I have remarked above that this case may offer a hint as to how the 

 other species migrate, which do not pass over Japan. I do not mean to 

 say, however, that the other species probably follow exactly the same 

 route ; in fact, I do not intend to propose any theory as to them, since 

 what we know about them is too fragmentary. To illustrate this I may 

 mention Carpodacus erythrinus grebnitsUL Middendorff met it at 

 Udskij Ostrog and v. Schrenck in the Amur Valley. But as the species 

 breeds there, it is— with our present knowledge— impossible to say 

 whether the Kamtschatkau individuals migrate along the Uda only, or 

 if they also go by the Amur route. If only the Amur birds had a sin- 

 gle character of their own, no matter how slight, no matter how keen 

 and trained the eye of the expert must be to discover it, what an ad- 

 vantage ! And still there are people who call the search for such fine 

 distinctions " hair-splitting ! " Could we possibly get more forcible ex- 

 amples to illustrate the absolute necessity of diligently practicing this 

 noble art of " hair-splitting" than the above ones of Chelidon tytleri 

 and Carpodacus grebnitsUi f 



To the north, or rather the northeast of Kamtschatka, lies a country 

 larger than Great Britain, which is totally unknown, at least as far as 

 its birds are concerned. Koughly speaking, it is situated between 60° 

 and 660 north latitude, and between 195° and 180o west longitude, 

 being the whole river area of the Anadir and its numerous tributaries. 

 Although bordered to the northwest by the northern arm of the Stan- 

 ovoj Mountains, this vast area is undoubtedly inhabited by a consider- 

 able number of Siberian forms of migratory birds, but as we know 

 absolutely nothing of the ornis of the region its relation to that of 

 Kamtschatka can only be guessed at. 



Still further to the northeast is the Tschuktschi Peninsula, the orni- 

 thology of which is a little better known. We have scattered notes by 

 the many travelers who stopped a few days in Plover Bay. Norden- 

 fikiold, wintering at Pitlekaj, has furnished valuable observations cover- 



