•22 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



In bringing this article to a close I wish to add a few words in explana- 

 tion of the way in which it was written and the spirit in which it is pre- 

 sented. Originally, I intended merely to arrange and formulate the notes 

 made at Point Lepreaux, but one thing led insensibly to another until I 

 became involved in a somewhat general discussion of bird migration. A 

 field experience of more than twenty years furnished ample material on 

 which my theories and deductions are chiefly, and in many cases wholly, 

 based, very few of them having been taken at second-hand, or even sug- 

 o-ested by the writings of others. Nevertheless I do not claim that they are 

 o-enerally or perhaps even largely original in the sense of being now made 

 public for the first time. Moreover, a thorough scientific treatise on bird mi- 

 o-ration is not attempted. I merely offer some facts and theories which may 

 or may not be new, and I leave to others the task of sifting the grain from 

 the chaft', content if I have added anything of value to the previous store of 

 knowledge. 



