350 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



weigh 4 lb., or even under, which was the weight of Mr. Popham's 

 bird shot on the Yenesei. Mr. Chapman's bird at 2|- lb. was 

 obviously in very poor condition. 



Finally, it only remains now to discuss the probability of 

 Anser gambeli crossing the Atlantic to the west coast of Ireland, 

 or coming by some other route. I will at once and most 

 emphatically express my opinion that there is nothing in the 

 faintest degree unreasonable in suggesting that they can and do 

 accomplish this journey easily and regularly. But we all know 

 that these birds breed in the high north, and my own investiga- 

 tions in Iceland proved to me that White-fronted Geese only 

 rest regularly there during the migratory period ; which species 

 I cannot say, but as likely to be gambeli as albifrons. Instead 

 of the across Atlantic journey, it is more reasonable to assume 

 that these birds come across Greenland — even if they do not 

 breed there — to Iceland, and could then easily continue their 

 journey downward, fringing the narrowest part of the Atlantic to 

 Ireland. If Greenland and Iceland Falcons and so many other 

 northern birds do it regularly, why not the powerful flying Wild 

 Geese ? If the Snow Goose (Chen hyperboreus) comes, why not 

 A. gambeli? For my own part I should not doubt that they 

 could easily cross even the broad part of the Atlantic. 



The scepticism which has for so many years been indulged 

 in with regard to American migrants visiting Great Britain 

 must surely be utterly swept away now by the fact of so many 

 American birds visiting our islands. The fanciful assisted 

 passage theory is utterly inadequate to explain it, although it is 

 perfectly certain that some birds do rest on vessels at sea, and 

 travel with those vessels for a time, as instances have come 

 under my own notice. But these occurrences are in no way 

 sufficiently frequent to account for the great and increasing 

 numbers of American birds which are coming to us — especially 

 amongst the Waders. Even Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Carolina 

 Crakes are just as genuine migrants as Snipe-billed Sandpipers, 

 American Bitterns, Spotted Sandpipers, or American White- 

 fronted Wild Geese. 



There is one fact which all must admit, which is that of late 

 years some birds are changing their lines of migration ; further, 

 that, in many instances, those birds breeding in the far north do 



