70 ^ The Oologists' Record, September i, 1922. 



" fogs, but fogs lie low over the ocean and presumably, the dirigibles 

 " and airplanes would navigate in the clear sunlight above them. 



" . . . base stations will be supplied by railways, by ocean 

 " steamers, or by river steamers. A glance at the map of the 

 " Polar air routes shows that they require few long jumps between 

 " places that are now reached with fair regularitj/ by ocean or river 

 " steamers. 



" How accessible are many of the seemingly remote fur-trading 

 " outposts of Arctic Canada and Siberia few of us realize. 



" It would take only about 25 days to make the journey to-day 

 " from New York to the mouth of the Mackenzie, 200 miles north 

 " of the Arctic Circle in Canada, and regular railway and steamboat 

 " tickets could be bought, if not in New York, at least in Winnipeg 

 " or Edmonton. 



" Under normal peace-time conditions a similar surprise would 

 " await those who desired to reach the north coast of Siberia, by 

 " journeying in steamers from the Trans-Siberian Railway down one 

 " or another of the great north-flowing Asiatic rivers. 



" It goes without saying that where the air route touches the 

 " north of Norway or the north Pacific coast of Asia, the problem 

 " of supply is even simpler. 



" The islands that dot the Polar ocean will, obviously, become 

 " important relay stations on the various transpolar routes. 



'Tt may be said about them in general, and about the north 

 " coasts of Asia and America, that they are now far more easily 

 " accessible by steamer than the public realizes. This accessibility 

 " will be doubled by improvements in our ice ships, and by the 

 " increase of skill and decrease of fear on the part of our sailors. 

 " It will be doubled again by the location at difficult points of 

 " wireless stations to give captains advance news of ice conditions 

 " and by pilot airplanes to pick out ice-free routes that ships may 

 "follow. 



" It will be so easy for ships to supply the strategic points in the 

 " polar regions that few of the Polar airways will have to be far 

 " diverted from the theoretically preferred short routes toseekout- 

 " of-the-way places to get petroleum or other supplies. 



"As the cereal belts of middle Canada and middle Siberia are 

 " increasingly cultivated, great cities will grow up nearer and nearer 

 " the Arctic. Thirty years ago Edmonton, for instance, was a 



