ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OP THE NIGHTINGALE. 45 



shreds still attached to them. Of course these shoald not be affixed 

 to the birds in too conspicuous a manner, or curiosity will very pro- 

 bably impel some person to shoot them. It is an experiment which 

 has been very often tried, and formerly with a view to ascertain whe- 

 ther the swallow tribes passed the winter at the bottom of pools, the 

 shreds having been previously tinged with water-colours, which im- 

 mersion in water would have washed away. That the Nightingale 

 thus returns to its former locality, a passage, which I have already 

 quoted from Mr. Sweel's writings will attest sufficiently.* It can also 

 be shewn, from various recorded facts, (as the cases which are relat- 

 ed by Bewick, in his account of the Woodcock, as well as from other 

 similar ones which might be adduced), that migratory birds like- 

 wise revisit, annually, the exact same winter quarters ; and al- 

 though Redwings, and Snowflakes, and other species which pass the 

 winter so far north as in the British islands, may sometimes, by 

 severe weather, be compelled to proceed farther to the south, it does 

 not hence follow but that, in regions where the climate is more set- 

 tled, our various summer visitants may have a regular winter home, 

 from which they never wander. 



Reasons why they should do so. — ^We naturally enough inquire 

 why this should be, and what definite purpose can this serve in the 

 economy of nature, since nothing is ordained in vain ? The answer 

 is sufficiently obvious : that locality in which a brood of migrant 

 birds were reared and brought up one season, will mostly be adapt- 

 ed for the same purpose another ; and the same district wherein a 

 sufficient supply of food and other requisites was obtainable through- 

 out one winter, will also, in all probability, furnish an equal supply 

 during the next. 



[To be concluded in our next number. 1 



• Since writing the above, I have been informed of a lame Redstart which 

 was noticed to return for sixteen years to the same garden. The following 

 fact is also interesting, as jorouin^ that the hens also return to their former 

 locality. ''-Flycatchers," observe'5 the author of a little work on Migration, 

 1814, " I have known to build eight, nine, and even ten years successively, 

 in a certain crevice of an old wall, not far from my dwelling. Apprehending 

 that it was the same bird which annually and invariably visited the spot, 

 curiosity prompted me to try an experiment, which put the matter out of 

 doubt. When an opportunity offered, I took the female, cut off the extremi- 

 ty of the upper mandible of the bill, and with a knife made several perspi^ 

 cuous marks on its claws : this done, I set her at liberty : the succeeding 

 spring the same bird returned, with the distinguishing marks I had given it, 

 which was at once satisfactory. The point of the bill that was cut off was so 

 very inconsiderable, that the loss of it could hardly be perceptible to the 

 bird, and could not be, in any way, detrimental to its feeding. 



