could lay a course so straight as to attain these small oceanic islands, 

 2,000 miles south of the Aleutians, 2,000 miles west of Baja California, 

 and nearly 4,000 miles east of Japan, the evidence admits only the 

 conclusion that year after year this transoceanic round-trip journey 

 between Alaska and Hawaii is made by considerable numbers of 

 golden plovers. 



The Pacific oceanic route probably is used also by the arctic terns 

 that breed in Alaska, and possibly by those from the more western 

 tern colonies of Canada. This species is of regular occurrence on 

 the western coasts of both the United States and South America, 

 indicating that the western representatives travel southward to the 

 Antarctic winter quarters without the spectacular migration features 

 that appear to characterize the flight of those from the eastern part 

 of the continent (fig. 8). 



Arctic routes 



In the discussion of the migration of the Arctic tern (p. 38) it was 

 noted that this species makes a very distinct west-to-east movement 

 across northern Canada, continuing the flight eastward across the 

 Atlantic Ocean toward the western coast of Europe. It seems likely 

 that there are other species, including the parasitic jaeger, that regularly 

 breed in the northern part of the Western Hemisphere but migrate 

 back to the Old World for their winter sojourn. Some others, as 

 the red-legged kittiwake and Ross's gull, remain near the Arctic region 

 throughout the year, retreating southward in winter only a few 

 hundred miles. The emperor goose in winter is found only a relatively 

 short distance south of its breeding grounds, and eider ducks, although 

 wintering in latitudes well south of their nesting areas, nevertheless 

 remain farther north than do the majority of other species of ducks. 



The routes followed by these birds are chiefly coastwise, and in the 

 final analysis may be considered as being tributary either to the Atlantic 

 or to the Pacific coast routes. The passage of gulls, ducks, the black 

 brant, and other water birds at Point Barrow, Alaska, and at other 

 points on the Arctic coast, has been noted by several observers, and 

 from present knowledge it may be said that the best defined Arctic 

 route in North America is the one that follows around the coast of 

 Alaska. 



68 



