Vol. XIX. "1 IIai.i., Tlie Eastcyn Palcvarctica and Australia. 0"% 



lyiy J >'-' 



Corca. On 22iul jul\- \vc passed a breeding-ground, l)ut the; 

 goslings were in hiding. The adults were moulting their quills. 



Swans are not found on the equator. On the south side is our 

 black species {Chenopis atrata), and on the north Bewick's snow- 

 white bird, which winters in Chinese waters and nests on the 

 islands about the delta of the Lena. I only heard of it. 



The Cormorant [Phalacrocorax carbo) of Asia is scarcely distinct 

 from P. novcc-hollandicc of Australia. 



I saw what I feel sure was the Great Northern Diver. In my 

 intense interest and excitement, together with the fact that I was 

 balanced on a floating mass of water weeds and enveloped in 

 mosquitoes, I missed the shot. 



Botatiriis sicllaris, the Bittern of the north, was softly licllnwing 

 just as our B. pcvciloptiltis does. The Little Velhnv Bittern 

 {Ardctta sinensis) nests in Siberia and Australia. 



Sterna longipennis, the Long-winged Tern, I f(Hmd nesting near 

 Yarkutsk. It is a species that migrates to Northern Australia. 

 Four species of Terns, already mentioned, nest in both PaLc- 

 arctica and Australia. 



Lams argentatits vegce (the Herring Gull) nests far away north 

 of the Arctic Circle. I met a colony with young. An outlier, 

 said to be a male, promptly informed the many families that an 

 enemy was approaching the rookery, so that I could not find one 

 young in the few minutes I had. Instead of wintering in southern 

 China, as most birds do, it makes its way to the Behring Sea and 

 south to California — a most unusual proceeding. Larus caniis, 

 the common Gull of Europe and Asia, migrates south to China. 

 I secured specimens at Yarkutsk, i,8oo miles up the river. We 

 also got specimens of the British Black-headed or Peewit Gull 

 (L. riidibiindus) ; the latter also migrates to China and India. 



Two robber Gulls nest in Siberia. The Pomarine Skua {Ster- 

 corariiis pomatorhiniis) rears its young in the tundra, and makes 

 its way to north Australia. 5. crepidatus (the Arctic Skua) also 

 nests in Siberia, and later in the year is found in southern Tas- 

 mania. Many a time I have watched the two phases of the bird 

 in the Derwent estuary. 



If southern Siberia is full of Grouse and Pheasants, central 

 Siberia Finches, it is the polar basin that attracts the Limicoline 

 birds, the great wanderers of the earth. Just north of the limit 

 of trees, near the delta of the Lena, one finds the true tundra — 

 a land of the midnight sun. For three weeks I lived in its light 

 and in the care of a fine-meshed mosquito net. Here we saw the 

 Whimbrels and the Godwits. I saw them getting their plumage 

 in good order in Corca. The Curlews were with them. Map III. 

 shows the distribution in summer of the Curlew [Nitmcniiis 

 cyanopits) (a) in soutliern Silx'ria, W'himbrel {N . phceopus variegatiis) 

 (6), and A^. {M esoscolopax) ntimttus (c) ; [d] indicates their winter 

 ground. Whimbrels may descend in a corkscrew way, with one 

 wing closed. 



The Taimyr Peninsula (Map HI., 7) approximately divides the 



