VIEWS ON MIGRATION. 5 



a state of torpidity for the cold season. We may 

 at once dismiss the theory of seasonal transmuta- 

 tion as being utterly false and worthless, although 

 it is soberly believed in even at the present day by 

 many country folks. It probably originated in the 

 close resemblance of the Cuckoo to the various 

 species of smaller Hawk, and viewed in this light is 

 not so very outrageous after all. 



The presumptive habit of Hibernation, however, 



cannot be so curtly dismissed. For upwards of 



250 years the hibernation of birds has more or less 



excited the curiosity of man, and amongst its most 



ardent supporters may be found the names of men, 



neither knaves nor fools, but eminent for their 



scientific knowledge, or renowned for their labours 



in the field of Ornithology. Animals both lower 



and higher in the organic scale than birds are 



known to hibernate, or to pass the cold winters of 



the northern hemisphere in a state of torpidity. 



Bats, dormice, and various other mammals are in 



the habit of regularly hibernating in some snug 



retreat during the winter months, in many cases 



making elaborate provision for their trance ; various 



reptiles, batrachians, and insects hide themselves 



away at stated periods and sink into lethargic 



slumber. In the hibernation of birds therefore we 



have nothing absolutely impossible, either from a 



physical or a physiological point of view ; and it is 



by no means improbable that the habit may have 



been a prevailing one in northern regions during 



much colder periods than we now experience, and 



