138 



NATURE 



[April io, 191; 



also before the latter date that Vestland entered 

 into relations with the West Germanic civilisation 

 on the east coast of the North Sea, and the Anglo- 

 Saxon on its west coast. 



Burials without cremation first occurred in the 

 northern countries during the Roman period, and 

 with a broadening of culture the funeral furniture 

 grew more elaborate and diverse. These changes, 

 entering Vestland later than other parts of 

 Scandinavia, affected also the cremation burials, 

 and in the Folk-wandering period (400-800 a.d.) 

 the two kinds tended to fuse. Thus both methods 

 occur in a grave-mound with three graves at Byrkje 

 in Yoss (Fig. i)- One of these graves, that of a 



the mounds, and a tendency to uniformity of style 

 throughout the whole of the north. 



Usually in the Viking period there was a funeral 

 pyre on a flat surface, below which the grave was 

 dug and afterwards filled in with large stones, 

 while its position might be marked by one or more 

 gravestones (Fig. 2). The older orientation of head 

 to north was often departed from. This last change 

 and the increased simplicity may betoken Christian 

 customs, if not actually Christian faith. But the 

 halls of the mighty were still homes of heathen 

 worship ; their bodies lay when dead with head 

 true to the north of their fathers, and over them, 

 as at Upsala, at Tune, or at Gunnarshaug, were 

 piled the highest mounds with the 

 richest store of goods and the hugest 

 _i sacrifices known from all Scandinavia. 





tX 



Fig. 2. — A boat-shaped arrangement of stones ro 

 boat also formed part of the pyre. (After ' 

 From " Vestlandske Graver fra Jernalderen." 



woman, is further noteworthy as the oldest boat 

 burial in Norway, and approximately contemporary 

 with the sixth-century boat grave in Suffolk. This 

 mode of burial seems to have been the logical out- 

 come of the Charon belief, evidences of which are 

 found about this time in the form of ferry money. 

 Rooting itself naturally and growing exuberantly 

 in the mind of a seafaring folk, this rite bore its 

 richest fruit in the subsequent Viking period, when 

 the gross materialisation of a more primitive 

 symbolism reached its climax. Towards that 

 period there are also observed an increase in the 

 number of weapons, a decrease in the size of 



NO. 2267, VOL. 91] 



MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS. 1 



THE volume before us is the 

 seventh of the series of annual 

 reports on migration which we owe 

 to the industry of a committee of the 

 British Ornithologists' Club, which 

 has set itself the task of collecting 

 evidence over a period of ten years, 

 and thereafter of summarising the 

 data thus obtained. The reports 

 have increased progressively both in 

 scope and bulk, and the one before 

 us is a stout volume. It deals mainly 

 with the immigratory movements of 

 birds visiting England and Wales for 

 the purpose of nesting in the summer 

 of 191 1. Passage movements are 

 also dealt with, and the autumn move- 

 ments of 1910 as reported by light- 

 houses and light-vessels. Summaries 

 of the meteorological conditions are 

 furnished for purposes of comparison. 

 As the drawing of conclusions is 

 forbidden by the self-denying ordi- 

 nance of the committee, the volume 

 before us is to be regarded as a 

 summation of facts, and as such it 

 deserves all praise, for everything 

 possible has been done to ensure 

 clearness by condensation, tabulation, 

 and the addition of diagrammatic 

 tables. An immense amount of 

 material has had to be classified and 

 arranged, and we think that the committee has 

 chosen the best course in grouping its facts under 

 the headings of species, although the initial 

 chronological summary is perhaps the most inter- 

 esting to the casual reader. 



The spring migration commenced on March 10 

 and continued until May 29. During the latter 

 half of April there were three distinct waves of 



Aarsh., 1902). 



1 Report on the 1m 

 ign ; also Notes on thi 

 Lighthouses and Light- 

 mittee appointed by tht 

 of the Bulletin of the 

 Ogilvie-Grant. Pp. 3: 

 Price 61. 



nigrations of Summer Residents in 

 Migratory Movements and Records 



the Spring of 

 received from 

 By the Corn- 

 British Ornithologists' Club. Published as vol. xxx. 

 British Ornithologists' Club. Edited by W. R. 

 2-h2o traps. (London : Witherby and Co., 1912.) 



