2i6 THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



The possible explanation is, that the individuals of 

 most of these species breeding on the Russian tun- 

 dras winter more to the south-west, when their 

 normal route would be through Western Europe ; 

 or travel from the far south-east by way of the 

 Yenesay and Obb Valleys and across the Urals. 



The same sudden character of Arctic migration 

 in spring has been remarked by observers in much 

 higher latitudes. The species are fewer, but they 

 invariably make their appearance simultaneously 

 with the final triumph of summer, an event which 

 takes place even a little later in the season. Captain 

 Feilden, when wintering in the Alert in Grinnell 

 Land (lat. 82^°), first observed the Knot [Tringa 

 canutus)^ the Sanderling [Calidris areiiaria), and the 

 Turnstone [Strepsilas interpres) on the 5th of June. 

 Knots were observed, however, a few degrees further 

 south, in the winter quarters of the Discovery, on 

 the 31st of May, which practically means that the 

 birds here as elsewhere follow in the wake of 

 retreating winter. On the 9th of June (in lat. 82^°), 

 Feilden observed the Brent Goose [Anser hrenta) for 

 the first time. In the Arctic regions of North-west 

 America similar reports on spring migration have 

 been made. Thus at Fort Simpson, situated at the 

 junction of the Liard and Mackenzie rivers, about 

 150 miles north-west of the Great Slave Lake, Mr. 

 R. G. McConnell reports on the spring arrivals of 

 1888: "The warm weather which commenced on 

 the ist of May continued throughout the month, and 

 under its influence the snow quickly disappeared, 



