103 



south line of flight over again. What evidence is there beyond 

 this mere theory, that the birds breeding in Labrador are identical 

 with those flights observed at, or near to, the Bermudas? Even 

 if this could be proved it would not be sufficient, for it would still 

 be open to question whether they do not, on starting from their 

 breeding grounds, follow the coast line south, perhaps for hun- 

 dreds of miles before setting out over the sea. There is at this 

 season of the year no reason for any great haste in reaching their 

 winter quarters. According to further evidence quoted by Herr 

 Gatke certain flights of these plovers observed on migration five 

 to six hundred miles east of the Bermudas were variously stated 

 to be travelling due south and south east, thus illustrating in the 

 latter case that the flight is not conducted rigidly between the 

 points of north and south. 



In the opinion of Herr Gatke no surprise need be felt on 

 learning that the Virginian Golden Plover accomplishes its 

 migrations at a speed of 212 miles an hour. Observations on 

 Heligoland, he tells us, prove that Plovers, Curlews and Godwits, 

 which fly across the island at a rushing speed during bright, 

 warm afternoons in early summer, are seen to reach the oyster 

 bed over four miles to the east, within the space of a single 

 minute. It would be interesting to know how the flight of these 

 individuals has been followed for so great a distance. In 

 England a curlew a mile away, in the pure atmosphere of the 

 Northumberland moors, is a very diminutive object. 



Some light may be gleaned of the way in which the Virginian 

 Plover conducts its spring migration from the report on "Bird 

 Migration in the Mississippi Valley " (Cooke, 1888), where it is 

 stated that this species " Breeds in the Arctic regions, and occurs 

 on migration throughout the Mississippi Valley and Manitoba." 

 Now the breeding grounds will not be ready for occupation, at 

 the earliest, until the first week or middle of June, yet we read : 

 " In the spring of 1884, at Caddo, Ind. Ter., the first came about 

 March 11th ; between March 21st and 27th it was noted from lat. 

 39° in Missouri to lat. 41° 42' in Iowa and to Chicago, 111. Then 

 no more records were made until after the April storms. About 

 April 16th it began to move again, and April 24th it was reported 

 from Unadilla, Nebr. and Leeds Centre, Wis. ; April 29th, it 



