THE SPRING MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 213 



Passerine birds, countless flocks of Geese, Swans, 

 and Ducks arrived, together with a great many 

 Gulls and Terns and Birds of Prey." 



On the I St of June, the first small insectivorous 

 bird appeared, the White Wagtail, and the Bramb- 

 ling arrived almost simultaneously. From the 2nd 

 to the nth, flocks of Shore Larks continued to 

 pass north; on the 3rd, the Wheatear arrived; the 

 4th brought the Dusky Ouzel {Menda fuscata), 

 the Lapland Bunting, the Yellow-headed Wagtail 

 {Motacilla citreola), and a great rush of Willow 

 Wrens of no less than three different species, viz. 

 the Siberian ChifF-chafF, the Common Willow Wren, 

 and the Yellow-browed Willow Wren {Phylloscopus 

 super cUiosus). On the 5th, the Redwing, the Gray- 

 headed Wagtail, and the Cuckoo arrived; whilst 

 from the ist of June onwards thousands of Swans 

 passed over, all steadily flying north down the 

 course of the great valley to the tundras beyond 

 forest growth. The observations respecting the 

 Bean Goose are particularly interesting, inasmuch 

 that they illustrate very forcibly the progress of 

 Migration in the Arctic regions. " Whenever," says 

 Mr. Seebohm, "the weather was mild during May, 

 small parties of Geese flew over the ship in a 

 northerly direction. When the wind changed and 

 brought us a couple of days' frost and snow, we 

 used to see the poor Geese m.igrating southwards 

 again. The great annual battle of the Yenesay lasted 

 longer than usual the year that I was there. We had 

 alternate thaws and frosts during the last three weeks 



