240 SWIMMERS. 



during September and October coming in from the sea to the west- 

 ward, and rapidly passing along the coast towards the northeast. 



They were migrating evidently ; but whither.'* and where had they 

 come from, — where had they been nesting ? These questions are 

 still unanswered. It has been suggested that the birds may turn 

 southward, and winter in the interior of this continent, — possibly 

 in the Barren Ground region. But a more probable supposition is 

 that offered, I think by Lieutenant Ray, that the flocks move east- 

 ward until they meet the floating ice, and then wheel seaward and 

 remain amid the "fields " during the winter months, drifting south- 

 ward, — too far from land to be observed, and feeding at the edge 

 of the "pack." 



But these are speculations only. It has been determined, how- 

 ever, that the species is abundant in the vicinity of Bering Sea 

 and breeds somewhere along the Siberian shore of the Arctic 

 Ocean, that it occurs as an occasional visitor only in other portions 

 of the Arctic region, and as an accidental straggler elsewhere. 



Upon what land the nest is placed is still unknown. It must lie 

 somewhere in the frozen region to the westward or northward of 

 Wrangel Island, and may be amid the Liakoff isles, or on some 

 undiscovered island still closer to the Pole. 



