328 KEPORT— 1893. 



The presence of species belonging to Arctic and sub-Arctic genera on many of 

 tte South Pacific Islands is strong evidence that they were compelled to emigrate 

 in search of food by some great catastrophe, such as an abnormally heavy snowfall, 

 and the fact that no island contains more than one species is strong evidence that 

 this great catastrophe has only occurred once in recent times. The occurrence of 

 a well-recognised line of migration from Greenland across Iceland, the Faroes, 

 and the British Islands to Europe is strongly suggestive of a recent elevation of 

 the land where the more shallow sea now extends in this locality. The extraordi- 

 nury similarity of the fauna and flora of the Arctic regions of the Old and New 

 Worlds can only be found elsewhere in continuous areas, and, had it not been for 

 the unfortunate division of the Arctic region into two halves, Palsearctic and 

 Nearctic, would have attracted much more attention than it has hitherto received. 



THE RAINFALL 



of the Polar Basin is small compared to that with which we are familiar, but its 

 visible efl'ects are enormous. In Arctic Europe and Siberia it is supposed to 

 average about thirteen inches per annum ; in Arctic America not more than nine 

 inches. The secret of its power is that about a third of the rainfall descends in 

 the form of snow, which melts with great suddenness. 



The stealthy approach of winter on the confines of the Polar Basin is in strong 

 ■contrast to the catastrophe which accompanies the sudden onrush of summer. 

 One by one the flowers fade, and go to seed if they have been fortunate enough to 

 attract by their brilliancy a bee or other suitable pollen-bearing visitor. The 

 birds gradually collect into flocks, and prepare to wing their way to southern 

 ■climes. Strange to say. it is the young birds of each species that set the example. 

 They are not many weeks old. They have no personal experience of migration, 

 but Nature has endowed them with an inherited impulse to leave the land of their 

 birth before their parents. Probably they inherit the impulse to migrate without 

 inheriting any knowledge of where their winter quarters are to be found, and by 

 what route they are to be sought. They are sometimes, if not always, accom- 

 panied by one or two adults, it may be barren birds, or birds whose eggs or young 

 have been destroyed, and who may therefore get over their autumn moult earlier 

 than usual, or moult slowly as they travel southwards. Of most species the adult 

 males are the next to leave, to be followed perhaps a week later by the adult 

 females. One by one the various migratory species disappear until only the few 

 resident birds are left, and the Arctic forest and tundra resume the silence so con- 

 spicuous in winter. As the nights get longer the frosts bring down the leaves 

 from the birch and the larch trees. Summer gently falls asleep, and winter as 

 gently steals a march upon her, with no wind and no snow, until the frost silently 

 lays its iron grip upon the river, which, after a few impotent struggles, yields to 

 its fate. The first and mayhap the second ice is broken up, and when the starrester 

 of the village sallies forth to peg out with rows of birch trees the winter road 

 down the river to the next village for which he is responsible, he has frequently to 

 deviate widely from the direct course in his eflbrts to choose the smoothest ice 

 and find a channel between the hummocks that continually block the way. 



The date upon which winter resumes his sway varies greatly in different 

 localities, and probably the margin between an early and a late season is consider- 

 able. In 1876 Captain AViggins was frozen up in winter quarters on the Yenisei, 

 in latitude 6Qk°, on October 17. In 1878 Captain Palander was frozen up on the 

 coast 120 miles west of Behring Strait, in latitude 67 f°, on September 28. 



The sudden arrival of summer on the Arctic Circle appears to occur nearly at 

 the same date in all the great river basins, but the number of recorded observations 

 is so small that the slight variation may possibly be seasonal and not local. The 

 ice on the Mackenzie River is stated by one authoiity to have broken up on May 13 

 in latitude 62°, and by another on May 9 in latitude 67°. If the Mackenzie breaks 

 up as fast as the Yenisei — that is to say, at the rate of a degree a day — an assump- 

 tion which is supported by what little evidence can be found — then the difference 

 between these two seasons would be nine days. My own experience has been that 



