296 Scientific Results of 



Ethnology. — The knowledge already acquired of the Arctic 

 regions leads to the conclusion that the discovery of the 

 unknown portion of the Greenland coast will yield very im- 

 portant results in the science of anthropology. 



southern end of the fish house in the Zoological Gardens, and may 

 be seen there at the present time. Like many other kinds of birds 

 belonging to the same group, the colour of its plumage varies most 

 wonderfully according to the season of the year. In summer it is of 

 a bright brick -red ; in winter it is of a sober ashy -grey. Kept in 

 confinement, it seldom assumes its most brilliant tints, but some 

 approach to them is generally made. Now the knot comes to this 

 country in vast flocks in spring, and, after remaining on our coasts 

 for about a fortnight, can be traced proceeding gradually northwards 

 till it takes its departure. People who have been in Iceland and 

 Greenland have duly noted its appearance in those countries ; but in 

 neither of them is it known to tarry longer than with us — the 

 summer it would thei'e have to endure is not to its liking ; and as we 

 know that it takes no other direction, it must move further north. 

 We then lose sight of it for some weeks. The older naturalists used 

 to imagine it had been found breeding in all manner of countries, 

 but the naturalists of the present day agree in believing that we 

 know nothing of its nidification. Towards the end of summer it 

 comes back to us in still larger flocks than before, and both old birds 

 and young haunt our coasts till November ; if the season be a very 

 open one, some may stay later ; but our winter, as a rule, is too 

 much for it, and away it goes southwards, and very far southwards 

 too, till the following spring. What has been said of the knot in the 

 United Kingdom is equally true of it on the eastern shores of the 

 United States. There it appears in the same abundance and at the 

 same seasons as with us, and its movements seem to be regulated by 

 the same causes. 



Hence we may fairly infer that the lands visited by the knot in 

 the middle of summer are less sterile than Iceland or Greenland, or 

 it would hardly pass over those countries, which are known to be 

 the breeding-places of swarms of water-birds, to resort to regions 

 worse off as regards supply of food. But the supply of food must 

 depend chiefly on the climate. The inference necessarily is that, 

 beyond the northern tracts already explored, there is a region which 

 enjoys in summer a climate more genial than they possess. It would 



