4590 Tuer ZooLoGIst—SEPTEMBER, 1875, 
and of Ross—works which excite regret at the glorious oppor- 
tunities so ingloriously missed through the absence of special 
naturalists, and only redeemed from utter opprobrium by the 
zeal of volunteers.t* ‘The long series of expeditions in search of 
Franklin’s ships from the same cause was still more barren of 
results in respect to Arctic Ornithology, so that a single discovery 
of Sir Leopold McClintock’s,* and the notes of Mr. David Walker, 
who did not possess any special proficiency in the study, furnish 
almost the only increase to our knowledge of the subject gained 
during that period. * The different American expeditions, judging 
from what has been published about them, added absolutely 
nothing—a fact particularly to be regretted when we regard the 
high latitudes they successively reached. More in this respect 
was achieved by the Germans, and to the observations of Dr. 
Pansch, contained in the elaborate work of Dr. Finsch,’ we owe 
information of some value. To various works not especially 
treating of Arctic Ornithology, or of the Ornithology of Davis 
Strait at least, there is no need for me here to refer more in 
detail. ‘ 
It is now beginning to be recognised by ornithologists that to 
draw any sound conclusions from the avifauna of a country we 
must strictly limit our basis to the species of birds which either 
breed in or annually, for a longer or shorter period, frequent it, 
and consequently to obtain a true notion of its peculiarities all 
accidental stragglers should be dismissed from consideration. They 
are indeed eminently worthy of regard from another point of view, 
throwing light as they do on the general question of the wanderings 
of birds, but they are of little account in the aid they give to 
elucidating the great subject of Geographical Distribution. It has, 
therefore, seemed to me expedient to distinguish between these two 
1 The result of nearly all that was then ascertained about birds is embodied in 
the second yolume of the well-known ‘ Fauna Boreali-Americana’ by Swainson and 
Richardson. (London: 1831, 4to, 523 pp.) 
? Journal of the Royal Dublin Society, 1856, pp. 57—60. 
* This, 1860, pp. 165—168; Journal of the Royal Dublin Society, 1860, pp. 61—67. 
‘The majority of such ornithological specimens as were collected during the 
Franklin search passed into the possession of Mr. Barrow, who subsequently gave 
his collection to the Museum of the University of Oxford, and a catalogue of it 
has been published by Mr. Harting (Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1871, 
pp. 110—123). 
5 Die zweite deutsche Nordpolarfahrt. Leipzig: 1874. 2 vols. 8vo, vol. ii. 
pp. 178—239, 
