Migratory Birds in British Guiana. 265 



no doubt, is largely due to the fa6l of the splitting up 

 of the large numbers that are observed starting for the 

 south, many resting on the West Indian Islands, and 

 others on the different parts of the Central and South 

 American Coast, while doubtless thousands upon thou- 

 sands perish in their long and severe flight. 



It is to be noticed that, so far, in the scanty col- 

 leftions made in the far interior, it has been a rare 

 occurrence to find representatives of these birds, though 

 exceptional forms do now and then occur ; and as the 

 greater numbers of such colle6lions have been made 

 during the months when the migrants are most common 

 on the coasts on their southward journey, we may take it 

 as an indication that these species do not occur on the 

 highlands except as stragglers, but pass regularly along 

 the maritime distri6ls. 



A very marked feature in these migratory birds is the 

 occurrence of many of the same species in the Eastern 

 Hemisphere, a condition quite exceptional among the 

 American and Old World avifauna. Several of our 

 species are recorded as stragglers, or exceptional forms, 

 in the Handbooks of British Birds, while others are 

 regular migrants passing southwards to winter in South 

 Africa and Asia, and even in Australia and New Zealand. 

 In a few cases, some of these birds breed plentifully in 

 Greenland, and possibly this was the point from which 

 some were originally diverted across to the other hemis- 

 phere, in numbers sufficient to establish themselves as 

 regular visitors. In other cases, however, where the 

 species breed regularly throughout the arctic and tempe- 

 rate distri6ls of N. America, wintering constantly in the 

 south, the stragglers to England and other parts of 



LL2 



