Herr Badeker's and Dr. Bi-ewer's Oolugical Works. 409 



said to come to this country from Russia^ though there is little 

 doubt that satisfactory specimens might he obtained thence. 

 The greatest interest, however, gathers round the nidification of 

 those Waders, such as the Grey Plover, Sanderling, Pigmy Cur- 

 lew, Knot, and Little Stint *, which at irregular intervals and 

 for short periods throng our shores in large bands, and yet of 

 whose breeding-quarters what Englishman can speak with cer- 

 tainty ? Dr. Middendorff, indeed, obtained eggs of the first 

 mentioned, one of which is figured in his work, but he failed to 

 penetrate the mystery which envelopes the movements of the 

 others. Even almost at the extremity of the North-East Cape, 

 in latitude 78° N., where the continent extends nearest to the 

 pole of anywhere in the world, this intrepid voyager found in 

 spring flocks of these species, restlessly pressing onwards, and in 

 autumn there they were again, returning with their broods, to 

 winter perhaps in the burning plains of India, by the great lakes 

 of Central Africa, or even to push their outposts as far as the 

 Cape of Good Hope or the still unknown shores of New Guinea. 

 Vain seems at present the expectation of triumphing over the 

 obstacles which offer themselves to the Oologist in this direction, 

 but when the present undeserved unpopularity of Polar Explora- 

 tion is overcome, when political emergencies have passed away, 

 and adventurous spirits in our navy find no scope for their 

 energies in a piping time of peace, may we not hope that a 

 period may return when the fond dreams of old " Arctics " may 

 be realized, expeditions fitted out, and the circurapolar regions 

 reached, while their zoology is investigated by worthy successors 

 of Uichardson and Sabine ? f 



We depend on the Naturalists of Canada and the United 

 States helping us to a knowledge of the peculiarly North 



* We had almost added to the number the Grey Phalarope, for, though 

 there is reason to think that bird breeds in Iceland, we have no confidence 

 in any of its reputed eggs received therefrom, but we recollect the speci- 

 men in the late Mr. Yarrell's cabinet, which, at his sale in 1856, passed 

 into the hands of one of the keenest and most kind-hearted of collectors. 

 It came from Melville Island, and is probably genuine. 



t In an admirable article on the additions made of late to European 

 oologj% the editor of ' Naumannia ' recently stated that the Little Stint 

 had been found breeding in Siberia — but without giving any authority for 

 the assertion. (' Naumannia,' 1858, p. 125.) 



