CHAP. XIX, LINES OF MIGRATION. 239 



see witli our eyes. We longed for the arrival of Sideroff, 

 fearing, however, he would come too late. Meanwhile we 

 tried to work the oracle, and had not yet given up the task 

 in despair. 



Whether the birds that I had seen in flocks on the tundra 

 were those of the year before, or not, continued a matter of 

 discussion between my companion and myself. He con- 

 sidered that maritime birds that feed principally when the 

 tide falls, have consequently a periodical dining-hour, and 

 a special dining-room, and therefore get into the habit of 

 flocking together at dinner-time. I remained still of the 

 opinion that birds of the same species were breeding not far 

 off, probably on the coast between the Bolvanski Bucht and 

 Varandai ; or it might be on the Pytkoff Mountains. We 

 had also many debates concerning the probable line of 

 migration followed by " les rares oiseaux," as we called the 

 grey plover, the little stint, the curlew sandpiper, and the 

 sanderling; and in this we began to question the usually 

 received theory, that these birds migrate up the Baltic and 

 along the coast of Norway to their breeding haunts. My 

 own notion had long been that birds migrate against the 

 prevailing winds; that they migrate to their breeding- 

 ground in a narrow stream, returning from them in a 

 broad one. If these birds therefore winter on the shores 

 of the Mediterranean, they probably leave by way of 

 the Black Sea, cross by the Sea of Azov to the Volga, 

 near Sarepta, follow the Volga to Kazan, thence along 

 the Kama to Perm; then over the low hills of the Ural 

 to the Obb, and so on to the Arctic Ocean. Some breed 



