254 Henshaw, Migration of the Pacific Plover. [july 



Fall vngration of Plover. — For some reason or other plover 

 appear to arrive in the Commander Islands in fall very late, accord- 

 ing to Stejneger, not till after the 15th of September; the last ones 

 were observed in 1883 on the 28th of October. The turnstone 

 on the other hand touches the Commanders on its return trip 

 much earlier, according to the same author, as early as the last part 

 of July. 



Arrival of Plover in Hawaii in Fall. — Passing now to Hawaii, 

 a small number of plover and also turnstones return there as early 

 as the middle, or the latter part, of August. By inference these are 

 the birds which leave for the breeding grounds earliest in spring, 

 and so^are the first to complete their parental duties. Or, the first 

 arrivals in Hawaii may be individuals which made the journey to 

 Alaska but for some reason did not breed; or whose nests were 

 broken up; or whose mates were killed, for the Arctic tundras have 

 their bird tragedies as have other lands. Just as the turnstones 

 reach and leave the Pribilofs in small straggling flocks, so they and 

 the plover arrive in Hawaii; and it appears further that in fall, as 

 in spring, they get into good condition for the flight, and then leave 

 in no regular order nor at any set time, but just as the impulse seizes 

 them. 



Between the dates of early departure from Hawaii in spring and 

 of early arrivals in fall there is thus an interval of some four months 

 or more, quite long enough to permit the pairs to attend to their 

 parental duties, to get into condition for the return journey, and to 

 make the trip. So far as my observations extend all the first arrivals 

 in Hawaii in fall, both plover and turnstone, are adults in breeding 

 plumage. I may add that they are invariably in good flesh and 

 that some are very fat. Later arrivals, however, no doubt young 

 of the year, are comparatively poor in flesh and recjuire considerable 

 time to fatten. 



How migrants find their tvay across the ocean. — It thus appears 

 that thousands of birds, large and small, make a two thousand 

 mile flight from Alaska to Hawaii in fall and return in spring. To 

 answer the question how they find their way across the trackless 

 waste we must leave the realm of fact and enter that of speculation. 

 Ocean migration routes have generally been plausibly accounted 

 for on the theory that the present fly lines were established ages ago 



