332 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



to 3 if not 4 genera of Passeres, are found nowhere else in the New 

 World/ and their occurrence there does not preclude us from set- 

 ting them down as essentially Palsearctic forms. Indeed they all 

 belong to genera widely distributed throughout the greater part 

 of Europe and Asia, while if the species be not identical they are 

 represented by others that are closely cognate — as in the case of 

 the Wagtails^ and the Bullfinch. Some are summer immigrants, 

 and therefore must yearly cross and recross Bering's Sea, since they 

 assuredly do not "winter upon the American side. To these last 

 may even be added the Wheatear, Saxicola mnanthe, for though 

 that species is known as a regular annual visitant to Greenland^ 

 and Labrador (where it breeds), and almost annually appears as a 

 straggler in the maritime provinces of Canada, in Maine, and in 

 New England, the flocks which throng the stony hill-tops of Alaska 

 in spring are not likely to have performed a north-west passage 

 from Europe, and indeed it is stated that specimens from Norton 

 Sound differ considerably from those obtained in Greenland. All 

 these birds are unseen in British Columbia,* and as all are migratory, 

 the inference that they make some part of Asia their winter quarters 

 is almost irresistible ;^ but the point to be observed is that an orni- 

 thologist passing in summer from Kamchatka or the eastern extremity 

 of Siberia would on landing in Northern Alaska find himself in the 

 midst of an Avifauna of which nearly one-half, namely 112 out of 

 227 species, was identical with that which he had left on the other 

 side of the Paciiic.^ 



^ These are Pyrrhida cassiiii, Leucosticie griseinucha, Antlms cervinus, 

 Bmlytes leucostriatus, Motacilla ocularis, Parus obtedus, Phylloscopus borealis, 

 Cyaneciila suecica, Surnia funerea, Strix lapponica, and Archibuteo lagopus. 

 The purely American species which occur aueidentally in Europe are of course 

 left out of consideration. It is to be remarked that at present there is no trace 

 of the accidental occurrence of any purely American species in Northern Asia, 

 though such are quite likely to come .under the notice of future observers. 



^ "Several small birds of the water-wagtail genus "came on board one of 

 Cook's ships, 16 August 1778, when in lat. 69.57 N. and long. 166.19 W., being 

 then off Cape Lisburn on the northern coast of Alaska (W. Ellis, Narrative of a 

 Voyage kc. i. p. 340). 



^ Though Messrs. Nelson and Henshaw {op. cit. p. 222) state that the present 

 writer " assumes that the bird reaches Nortli-west America by the way of Green- 

 land," he does not remember having entertained or expressed any such opinion. 

 On the contrary, he used the very words above printed in his article " Birds " 

 published in the Encyclopsedia Britannica (ed. 9, iii. p. 753) in 1875. 



■* They seem not to occur to the southward of Cape St. Elias,. the presumed 

 limit of the Province. 



'^ This remark must be taken as not influencing the argument, or the example 

 of Egypt presently to be cited would thereby be affected. 



® It may be observed that in order to avoid the least appearance of overstating 

 the case, forms like the Ti:ee-Creepeu and Osprey have been counted as though 

 distinct. If these and some others were regarded as specificallj' identical, ami 



