31)2 KKPORT ON TME MTGliATION OF JilRDS. 



tliiiii about routes of coiuniuuicatiou (highways), which lead certaiu 

 iL>roiii)s of migratory birds from their habitats in EuiO]>ean Russia to 

 their winter stations. This aheady appears froiu the names of the 

 routes: Vi(( iK)rice</iea, Via baltiea, Via jxmtien, Via casjyica. These 

 all follow, at least partially, greater bodies of water, but receive their 

 supplies also from the interior of the country. All the ways on the first 

 map correspond more or less directly to the routes which are settled 

 u]^on in the writ<M''s work. 



On the other hand, Prof. Menzbier's representation contains entirely 

 new assertions about tlie continental routes (map 2). According to 

 the writer's method — but without giving fully the material of observa- 

 tion, which is now indispensaV)ly necessary — he has studied the habi- 

 tats of 13 eastern species of birds with reference to their geograph- 

 ical distribution, and finds this explicable only by the assumption of 

 certain migration routes, which he designates upon the n)ap without 

 claiming to have thereby exhausted the question (p. 349). In the text, 

 he completes their continuation towards tlie east. The routes are pro- 

 vided with names in the same sense as those before mentioned: (1) 

 Via sibirica begins in the northern half of European Russia and passes 

 in an easterly direction through the Siberian plains, on one side to the 

 sources of the Ob and Irtish, on the other side to Lake Baikal, along 

 the northern slojte of the Ekta-Altai, <mt of Dauria in a straight direc- 

 tion towards Urga, and through Gobi to the Ala-Shan. A branch goes 

 besides to the Kuku-nor. Individuals for example of JiJw&^^myr a areola 

 from European Russia might winter in southern China, and those from 

 southeastern Siberia might pass through southern China to winter in 

 East India. (2) Via turkestanica also leads from the northern half of 

 European Russia, and from western Siberia, but towards the southeast, 

 between the Caspian Sea and the Thian-Shan (therefore in part Sev- 

 ertzow's highways), to the winter quarters in northwestern and central 

 India. (3) Via fraiiscaspia, (partly coinciding with T". caspia), leads to 

 winter (juarters on the southern side of the Caspian Sea and the stepi)es 

 lying to the east of it, as well as probably to the ui^per Oxus and 

 the sources of tlie Imlus. In eastern Asia this way might in part co- 

 incide with the Ma siitirica. (I) Via anatolica leads out of the Kirglieez 

 and ( 'almuck steppes to the Black Sea. through the Bosphorus to Asia 

 Minor, Syria, Palestine, and northern Arabia. 



As a matter of course, Prof. Meuzbier has founded these assertions 

 on the material which was at his disposal. The facts themselves were, 

 however, as before stated, not laid before the reader in detail, but in 

 short abstracts, accordingly all his conclusions relating to the posi- 

 tion and the ramifications of these routes are withdrawn from all con- 

 trol, and from any improvement in consequence of newly discovered 

 facts. It is therefore quite impossible for the writer to judge scien- 

 tifically these routes of Prof. Menzbier. Only personal opinions, formed 

 according to analogies, can be entertained on this subject; and the 



