CHAPTER VII. 



NOMADIC MIGRATION. 



Nomadic Migration most prevalent in Cold Regions — Resident 

 Birds in the Arctic Regions — The Corvid.e as instances 

 of Nomadic Migration — The Pine Grosbeak and the Shore 

 Lark — Snow Buntings — Arctic Grouse — Ducks and Gulls — 

 Nomadic Migration in Antarctic Regions — What Nomadic 

 Migration teaches — Birds of Short Migration Flight most 

 closely allied to Nomadic Migrants — Claim of Nomadic 

 Migrants to Generic Rank — Absence of Representative 

 Forms of Nomadic Migrants in the Southern Hemisphere 

 — Geographical Distribution of the Shore Larks. 



There is another class of migrants it now becomes 

 necessary to notice, birds whose periodical flights 

 are too important perhaps to be classed with mere 

 local movements, yet too irregular to come within 

 the scope of any migratory movement hitherto 

 described. The species indulging in this peculiar 

 kind of migration are the Nomads of the Avian 

 world, the restless wanderers wdth no settled or 

 definite winter home. Just as the nomad savage 

 wanders to and fro about his wilderness, pitching 

 his camp here one day, miles away the next, accord- 

 ing to his ever-fluctuating supply of the bare 

 necessaries of life, so do these vagrant birds pass 

 the non-breeding season in quest of food. We 



