240 SWIMMERS. 



during September and October coming in from'the sea to the west- 

 ward, and rapidly passing along the coa^t towarcls the northeast. 



They were migrating evidently ; but whither? and where had they 

 come from, — where had they been nesting ? ' 'These questions are 

 still unanswered. It has been Suggested that the birds may turn 

 southward, and winter in the interior of this Continent, — possibly 

 in the Barren Ground region. But a more probable supposition, is 

 that off ered, I think by .Lieutenant Ray, th^t the flocks move east- 

 ward until they meet the floating ice^ anfj then yljieej seaward and 

 remain amid the "fields " during the winter montts, drifting south- 

 ward, — too far from land to be. observed) and feeding at the edge 

 of the "pack." 



But these are speculations only. It has , been . determined, how^ 

 ever, that the species is abundant in the vicinity of Bering Sea 

 and breeds somewhere along the' Siberian shore of ;.thei, Arctic 

 Ocean, that it; occurs as an occasional visitor only in other portions 

 of the Arctic region, and as an accidental straggler elsewherg. , 



Upon what land the nest is placed is still unknown.. It jHiust lie 

 somewhere in the frozen, region to the westward, or .pprthv^rard of 

 Wrangel Island,, and may be amid the LiakofE i;;Ies, or on, some 

 undiscovered island still closer to the Pole. 



