214 THE MIGRATION OF BJRDS. 



of May. Summer seemed to be always upon the 

 point of vanquishing winter, but only to be driven 

 back again with redoubled vigour. During all this 

 time there must have been thousands and tens of 

 thousands of Geese hovering on the skirts of winter, 

 continually impelled northwards by their instincts, 

 penetrating wherever a little open water or an oasis 

 of grass was visible in the boundless desert of ice 

 and snow, and continually driven southwards again 

 by hard frosts or fresh falls of snow. It was not 

 until the ice on the great river broke up that the 

 great body of Geese finally passed northwards " 

 i^lhis, 1879, p. 158). From the 5th to the 19th 

 of June many other small Passerine birds arrived. 

 On the 6th, the Red-throated Pipit and the Scarlet 

 Rose Finch [Carpodacus erythrinus) appeared; on 

 the 7th, the Dark Ouzel (Merula obscura) and the 

 Little Bunting; on the 8th, the Fieldfare and the 

 Lesser Whitethroat [Sylvia curruca qffinis) ; on the 

 9th, the Sand Martin (Cotyle riparid) and the Yellow- 

 breasted Bunting [Emberiza aureola)-, on the nth, 

 the Siberian House Martin [Chelidon lagopoda) ; on 

 the 13th, the Reed Bunting ; on the 15th, the Sedge 

 Warbler; and on the 19th, the Mountain Accentor 

 (Accentor inontanellus). During this period the 

 great migration of the Waders took place. " The 

 Common and Pin-tailed Snipes [Scolopax gallinago 

 and stenura) were," writes Mr. Seebohm, " the first 

 to arrive in company with the Asiatic Golden 

 Plover {Charadrius fulvus)^ on the 5th. The Wood 

 Sandpiper (Totanus glareola) and Temminck's Stint 



