140 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



they hasten onwards; over the cliffs they plunge 

 into the water. Thousands fall victims to want and 

 hunger; the army behind streams on over their 

 corpses; hundreds of thousands are drowned in the 

 water or are shattered at the foot of the cliffs; the 

 remainder speed on; other hundreds and thousands 

 fall victims to the voracity of Arctic and red foxes, 

 wolves and gluttons, rough-legged buzzards and 

 ravens, owls and skuas which have followed them; 

 the survivors pay no heed. Where these go, how they 

 end, none can say; but certain it is, that the tundra 

 behind them is as if dead, that a number of years 

 pass ere the few who have remained behind and have 

 managed to survive slowly multiply and visibly re- 

 people their native fields." This eloquent passage 

 reminds us of the manner in which migrations of 

 all kinds of animals have taken place in former times, 

 and are still taking place. It is principally want 

 of food which compels them to search for new 

 homes. 



On page 91 I have referred to some birds which 

 have come to us from the north. One of these, the 

 Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis], is a typically 

 Arctic species. In summer it is widely distributed, 

 and is found in Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, Siberia, 

 and the Arctic Regions generally. In winter it 

 migrates down into North America, into Japan, 

 Northern China, Turkestan, Southern Russia, and 

 occasionally even across Europe into North Africa. 

 Very characteristic Arctic birds are the Eider Ducks 



