ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 205 
Red-necked Phalarope. Phalaropus hyperboreus.—Was first 
seen on May 28th, near Fokstuen, where we afterwards found them 
in considerable numbers. We tried hard for the nests, but never 
found one, and doubt if they had begun to lay. 
Shoveller. Spatula clypeata.—A boy at Fokstuen, June 13th, 
brought in six eggs, with the down from the nest. Mr. Harvie 
Brown has courteously examined these, and pronounces them 
to be of the above species. The average size of the eggs is 
225 x 122 inches. 
Teal. Querguedula crecca.—Plentiful at Fokstuen. A nest of 
eight fresh eggs was taken on June 2nd, on marshy ground close to 
the water, and sheltered a little by a stick arching over. Another, 
with nine eggs, a few days sat, was taken on the 138th, 
Scoter, Oidemia nigra ; Velvet Scoter, Oidemia JSusca ; Scaup, 
Fuligula marila.—These all appeared on the marsh on June 2nd, 
in considerable numbers, but no eggs were taken by us. Our 
German friends, mentioned above, had completely demoralised the 
ducks. 
Long-tailed Duck. Harelda glacialis—One seen flying over 
Fokstuen early in June, the only individual observed. 
Red-breasted Merganser. Mergus serrator.—A male was 
brought to us at Grut on May 19th, shot on the river with a rifle- 
bullet through its neck. 
Black-throated Diver. Colymbus arcticus.—A pair were seen on 
May 28th, whilst driving from Jerkin to Fokstuen, one of the large 
lakes by the road-side having got the ice away from about one 
hundred square yards of its surface. They were left alone in the 
hope that their eggs might be secured, but were never seen again. 
Lesser Black-backed Gull. Larus fuscus.—One seen on June 
8th, flying over the marsh opposite Fokstuen. 
—— 0 —— 
ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 
By Joun CorpDRaux. 
In the last part of the ‘Ornithological Miscellany,’ under the 
heading of “ Hirundo rustica,” Mr. George Dawson Rowley has 
propounded an original and startling theory on the migration of 
birds, a theory which reduces the bird itself to little more than a 
passive agent, and the act of migration to a great mundane law 
