XIV MIGRATION 355 
westwards, touching often at Heligoland, and after- 
wards bend their course to the south, in spring, having 
a more definite object before them, take the shortest 
route home to their nesting-place, so that they do not 
pass Heligoland. In the autumn journey they travel 
along two sides of a triangle, first to the west, then to 
the south ; in the spring they steer north-east, direct 
to their homes. But this change of route seems to be 
a more common and better established phenomenon 
in the New World than in the Old. To take one 
instance, the American Golden Plovers in spring fly 
northward through the States; in autumn a great 
host fly southward over sea, past the Bermudas, 
while a weaker band, most of them young birds in 
immature plumage, journey overland by the route by 
which they or their parents came. On August 31st, 
in the island of St. Croix, Professor Newton found 
that all the Golden Plover had some traces of breed- 
ing plumage, a sure sign that the young birds had 
gone homeward by a different road. In this case, the 
autumn journey from Nova Scotia or further north 
to South America seems to be the more rapid. This 
is certainly exceptional, and I do not know that any 
satisfactory explanation has been suggested. It may 
be that in spring it is easier to find food upon the 
mainland, in autumn upon the West India islands, 
where they pause to rest after their long flight over 
sea. 
Return to the Same Spot. 
Every one who has been a birds’-nester knows how 
year after year a particular nest appears in a particular 
AA 2 
