MIGRATION 561 



by the late Dr. SeverzofF/ and as regards Eastern Europe by Dr. 

 Menzbier,- while other contributions to the subject, too numerous 

 to be here named, have also appeared.^ It seems even now pre- 

 mature to criticize minutely the results of these works — conjectural 

 many of them confessedl}' are, while some of the details on which 

 they are founded rest on observations that cannot be regarded as 

 wholly trustworthy and are doubtless open to correction, but 

 nearly all is put forward in a way that deserves the fullest atten- 

 tion. On the part of some writers, we will not say it of Prof. 

 Palmen, there seems to be a disposition to attach an almost 

 superstitious importance to the phrase Migration-route. Such 

 persons should bear in mind Dr. Menzbier's very true remark that 

 every species on Migration goes its own way, and what is called a 

 Migration-route is only the coincidence of the way taken by more 

 or fewer of them. One of the routes (" X ") described by Prof. 

 Palmen, and one of considerable interest to dwellers in the United 

 Kingdom, is extremely questionable. Indeed the data to establish 

 its existence were not forthcoming when he wrote, and probably 

 are not forthcoming now, though in the interim much has been 

 done toward the collection of facts at light-houses and light-ships 

 around our coasts by the " Migration Committee " appointed by 

 the British Association in 1880, which continued its exertions for 

 nine years,* with the result of accumulating a mass of statistics, 



•^ £tudes sur le passage des Oiseaux dans I'jisie Centrale particulierement par 

 le Ferghdnah ct le Pamir {Bull. Soc. Imp. N'at. Moscau, 1880, i. pp. 234-287). 



^ Dili Zugstrassen der Vogel im europdischcn Russland {op. cit. 1886, ii. pp. 

 291-369). Herein four chief routes of European origin are laid down — (1) a via 

 norvegica rounding the North Cape, skirting the coast of the Kola Peninsula and 

 continued along the arctic shores of Russia to Waigats and Nova Zambia : (2) 

 a via baltiea which splits into three lines, one passing up the Gulf of Bothnia 

 to TorneS where it bifurcates, one stream ascending the river of that name, the 

 other proceeding overland to Kola ; a second line passes along the Gulf of Finland 

 to Viborg, and thence along the northern shore of the Ladoga and Onega Lakes 

 over the White Sea to Nova Zembla ; while a third, occasionally anastomosing 

 with the second, crosses the Gulf of Riga and, passing to the southward of the 

 two lakes just named, iinally arrives also in Nova Zembla : (3) a via pontica 

 which, leaving the Black Sea, spreads over the whole of Russia, becoming fainter 

 as it proceeds northward though perceptible within the Arctic Cu'cle in the 

 Muonio basin, and reaching nearly as far north in the valleys of the Mezen and 

 Petchora : lastly (4) a via caspia ascending the Volga on the west so far as 

 Jaroslav, and to the eastward reaching by many anastomosing streams the valley 

 of the Obi. 



^ A good summary of them is given in the Report {Eeferat ilbcr den Stand 

 der Kenntniss des Vogelzuges) drawn up by Prof. Palmen for the International 

 Ornithological Congress held at Budapest iu 1891. 



* When I say the exertions of the Committee I mean chiefly those of its 

 secretary, Mr. Cordeaux, whose enthusiasm prompted the men at the several 

 stations to make observations, while his energy in carrying on the laborious 



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