And I myself, on the twenty-ninth of last October (as I was travelling through Oxford), saw four or five swallows hovering round and settling on the roof of the county hospital.

Now is it likely 10 that these poor little birds (which

It was wet, cold, and foggy, with only occasional gleams of sunshine: but in spite of the weather these birds continued to fulfil their parental functions with the most persevering assiduity and industry. Taking advantage of every propitious hour to prepare their young for their distant journey, and as if instinctively aware of the necessity of expediting their departure, they subsequently appeared to have brought them out earlier than usual, and seemed to be teaching them to fly. They were observed to pass under the young bird when it appeared to be sinking, and were seen to raise its head, assisting it thus in its progression through the air. I saw them on the 23rd of October; and on the 24th they had departed. On the 28th martins were observed at Maida Hill, Paddington: these had possibly been beaten back by the violent storm from the south which occurred on the night of the 25th.—G. D.

10 It is, however, quite certain that young swifts, the moment they leave the nest, have often occasion to make the great migration. See Mr. White's Observation, Letter LII. to Daines Barrington. The various species of Hirundines remain in their nests till they are more completely feathered than other birds, and when they come forth they are matured for flight. I suspect that the troublesome insect, called Hippobosca Hirundinis, is a resource in the scheme of providence, to force them to venture upon the wing from the perilous height at which their nest is placed, by making the abode insupportable.

Few subjects are more interesting or more difficult to unravel, than the instinct of birds. Instinct is explained by Dr. Johnson, to be desire or aversion acting in the mind without the intervention of reason; the power of determining the will of brutes. He should have added in some particular cases, for it is not true generally. The will of brutes on many, and indeed on most occasions, is influenced by memory of the past, and apprehension of the future, as much as that of a human being; and that which is called reason in mankind is, perhaps, rather an improved state of understanding, resulting from mutual communication of ideas through the gift of speech, than a distinct and separate quality. Instinct is, in fact, the immediate agency of the Almighty power on the mind of creatures not endued with speech, which supplies the place of reason, and determines their most important actions: and perhaps in nothing is the universal superintendence of the Almighty more wonderfully displayed, than in its immediate agency upon the minds of the most insignificant

creatures.

The difficulty attending this subject is, to distinguish imitation of the parents, from instinctive propensities. It is well known to those who teach young birds to pipe, or rear them to learn the notes of some better songster, that, unless they are removed from hearing the parents, at the

perhaps had not been hatched but a few weeks) should, at that late season of the year, and from so midland a

age of a very few days, they will sing a portion, if not the whole, of their natural melody. In this respect, the power of observation and imitation in the newborn creature displays itself most marvellously, and gives us reason to attribute many other things to similar causes, which we might otherwise have been induced to refer to instinct. Each bird builds its nest in the same form, and of the same materials as its parent, and for the most part in a similar situation. If the callow nestling is studying and learning the song and call of its parents, from the moment its eyes are open, why should not the more advanced nestling study every particular of the structure in which it is dwelling, and thus learn to build hereafter in the same fashion and position, and with similar materials? I can entertain no doubt that such is the case: and if the eggs were transposed into the nest of some nearly related species, and the produce kept separate from all others of their own kind, they would, doubtless, make their nests like those of the birds which had reared them, and would adopt their notes. I have observed young blackcaps raised from the nest in a large cage, in which the perches were placed very low, as soon as they fed themselves, show a sudden anxiety at roosting time to find a higher perch, and flutter about so intent upon this as to notice nothing else, and at last settle to roost clinging to the wires near the top of the cage. This appeared like a marvellous instinctive impulse; but I apprehend that, while in their native bush, they had noticed the parents every evening, at roosting time, fly upwards to a loftier situation, in which to pass the night. I therefore refer this also to observation.

I had some cock blackcaps and whitethroats, reared from the nest in May and the beginning of June: they were fed upon bread and ground hempseed scalded. The blackcap is naturally a great devourer of fruit, the whitethroat indifferent about it; but, before they were taken, the young blackcaps had been fed by the parents on caterpillars and maggots, and had tasted no fruit, nor could they have had any, for none was ripe; not even strawberries, and those, on account of their acidity, they do not touch. After they were grown up, having one day mixed with their food some of the black currant raisins of the shop, I observed the blackcaps immediately pounce upon them, but the whitethroats either neglected them or took them up and let them drop. In this I think that I discern the immediate agency of an Almighty power, suggesting the food most congenial to this species; for this propensity had not been derived from the habits of the parents. It so happened that the hens of the brood had been placed in a cage at a window of another room, to be fed by the old ones, for some time before they were restored to liberty, for the purpose of observing what food was brought to them; and no fruit was brought to them, nor could any berries have been found in the neighbourhood at that season.

The next propensity that manifests itself in young birds, is the ardent desire of washing themselves, in some species, and of dusting themselves in others; as, for instance, in the common wren. This I conceive must

county, attempt a voyage to Goree or Senegal, almost as far as the equator11?

be an instinctive incitement. It is barely possible that the little wrens might see through the aperture of their covered nest, the parents dusting themselves on the ground in some instances; but their 'nests are often placed where this could not be perceived, and the desire is equally powerful in all individuals. On the other hand, the nestlings of the woodwren and many others, which wash themselves eagerly on the first opportunity that presents itself, after they can feed themselves, could never have seen the like, their nests having been situated under the roots of a tree, upon a dry bank in a wood. This impulse is therefore inspired by the Creator: and it is inspired with a force that, in captivity, is like unto madness. It is very injurious to a nightingale to wash in the winter, and it is fatal to it to do so often: yet the moment a pan of water is put into its cage it rushes into the water and soaks itself, and then stands shivering, the very image of chilliness and despair; yet, will it eagerly repeat the operation, if allowed to do so, every day till it dies. Young whin chats, sedge warblers, wood wrens, yellow wrens, &c. as soon as they can feed themselves, if offered water in a cage, wash with similar avidity, yet, if the temperature be much under seventy, and the sun not shining, it is sure to kill them. In the younger birds it produces, some hours after, or perhaps the next day, a sudden stroke of palsy, by which they drop with a scream, having lost the use of one or both legs, and often with the mouth distorted. In this state the general health does not seem to be affected, but if both legs are paralyzed, they must soon perish. At a little more advanced age, the consequence of a single washing in cool weather is epileptic fits, which are repeated at shorter intervals, till they occasion death. In a state of liberty, the bird would dry itself quickly by rubbing against the leaves, and by very active motion, in the same manner as the wrens, by perpetual activity, resist the severest frost, of which the least attack would kill them in confinement; and, probably, when birds have opportunities of washing always at hand, they choose the most favourable moments. In a cage, it is necessary to give such birds their water in a very narrow-mouthed fountain, to prevent their killing themselves by washing. They will repeat it with equal eagerness, if not prevented, till they die; so strong is the inward impulse. I think the desire of washing belongs most strongly to the birds which migrate to hotter climates in winter; that of dusting to those which remain with us: a substitution wise as all the dispensations of the Creator, for if the little wren in winter were to wash in cold water instead of dusting, it must perish from the chill.

The next impulse that shows itself is the mutation of love into antipathy, not only in the parents, but amongst the young of several species, which impulse is denominated ȧvrisópyn. As soon as the parents of such species as are not gregarious, have completed the education of their brood, they drive them away, while they perhaps give birth to a second

See Adanson's Voyage to Senegal.

I acquiesce entirely in your opinion-that, though most of the swallow kind may migrate, yet that some do stay behind and hide with us during the winter.

As to the short-winged soft-billed birds, which come

family. But this is not all: as soon as the young of many species feed themselves, they begin to fight with each other, though perfectly friendly to birds of any other species in the same cage; and if they do quarrel with others, they do so more with those of cognate species. This appears to be a natural impulse given to them in order to effect the dispersion of their kind; it cannot be the effect of imitation.

The next impulse that shows itself in young birds is at the season of passage, and I can say, positively, that the desire of migration at the usual periods, is as strong in those which have never been out of their native country, and have been brought up in a cage, as in the old birds that have made the passage. This uneasiness lasts nearly a month, both in the autumn and spring. I have observed, at these periods, that they usually go to roost quietly, but, upon a light being brought into the room after they have been asleep, the bustle commences, and it is very difficult to get them to settle on the perch again. The anxiety is always accompanied with a looking upwards, and bending the neck quite back, with an aspiring motion of the body, as if the bird wished to soar. At these times, if their perches are near the top of the cage, they bruise their heads against it. It appears from this, as if the rise of the moon were the summons for departure; and the upward flight is probably necessary at starting, to get above all impediments. It has been often observed that woodcocks come over to us on moonlight nights. From these circumstances it is evident that birds do not migrate because their food fails them. If it be said that the diminution or increase of temperature is the channel through which they are warned of the necessity to depart, it does not appear that they are distressed by those changes, for they settle very well again as soon as the days of migration are passed, although the alteration of temperature is daily increasing. Indeed the vernal change, instead of creating a wish to depart, in the chilly species, should rather tend to reconcile them to confinement. It cannot therefore be truly averred that their desire of migration is occasioned by the pressure of any inconvenience.

The result of these observations is, that there are certain impulses given to birds, independent of their early imitative propensities, which seem to proceed directly from the Almighty power that governs the universe. The craniologist may, perhaps, expect to find such impulses modified by the various conformation of their sculls; but if it were admitted that a particular shape of the head might induce a disposition to migrate, what, but the agency of a higher intelligence, could impel the young bird, reared in a cage by the hand of man, with a pan full of food beside a comfortable fire, to travel north or south. The more this subject is investigated, the more clearly, I believe, the direct agency of God will be discovered.-W. H.

F

trooping in such numbers in the spring, I am at a loss even what to suspect about them. I watched them. narrowly this year, and saw them abound till about Michaelmas, when they appeared no longer. Subsist they cannot openly among us, and yet elude the eyes of the inquisitive: and, as to their hiding, no man pretends to have found any of them in a torpid state in the winter. But with regard to their migration, what difficulties attend that supposition! that such feeble bad fliers (who the summer long never flit but from hedge to hedge) should be able to traverse vast seas and continents, in order to enjoy milder seasons amidst the regions of Africa 12!

LETTER XIII.

TO THE SAME.

SIR,

SELBORNE, Jan. 22, 1768.

As in one of your former letters you expressed the more satisfaction from my correspondence on account of my living in the most southerly county; so now I may return the compliment, and expect to have my curiosity gratified by your living much more to the north.

12 There certainly does exist a difficulty in conceiving how some of the birds of passage, such feeble and bad fliers, should be able to migrate to such a vast distance; but some of our wonder will perhaps diminish, when we read an account of the manner in which the quail crosses the Mediterranean, for the coast of Africa. "Towards the end of September, the quails avail themselves of a northerly wind to take their departure from Europe, and flapping one wing, while they present the other to the gale, half-sail, half-oar, they graze the billows of the Mediterranean with their fattened rumps, and bury themselves in the sands of Africa, that they may serve as food to the famished inhabitants of Zara." St. Pierre's Studies of Nature, vol. i. p. 91.-MITFORD.

Mr. White subsequently arrived at a solution of this difficulty. See his Letter XXXIII. to Pennant; and that to Daines Barrington numbered IX.-W. Y.