xiv MIGRATION 355 



westwards, touching often at Heligoland, and after- 

 wards bend their course to the south, in spring, having 

 a more definite object before them, take the shortest 

 route home to their nesting-place, so that they do not 

 pass Heligoland. In the autumn journey they travel 

 along two sides of a triangle, first to the west, then to 

 the south ; in the spring they steer north-cast, direct 

 to their homes. But this change of route seems to be 

 a more common and better established phenomenon 

 in the New World than in the Old. To take one 

 instance, the American Golden Plovers in spring fly 

 northward through the States ; in autumn a great 

 host fly southward over sea, past the Bermudas, 

 while a weaker band, most of them young birds in 

 immature plumage, journey overland by the route by 

 which they or their parents came. On August 31st, 

 in the island of St. Croix, Professor Newton found 

 that all the Golden Plover had some traces of breed- 

 ing plumage, a sure sign that the young birds had 

 gone homeward by a different road. In this case, the 

 autumn journey from Nova Scotia or further north 

 to South America seems to be the more rapid. This 

 is certainly exceptional, and I do not know that any 

 satisfactory explanation has been suggested. It may 

 be that in spring it is easier to find food upon the 

 mainland, in autumn upon the West India islands, 

 where they pause to rest after their long flight over 

 sea. 



Return to the Same Spot. 



Every one who has been a birds'-nestcr knows how 

 year after year a particular nest appears in a particular 



A A 2 



