JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



and goiu- : the tiowers appear on the 

 earth : the time of the singing of birds is 

 come and tlie voice of tlie turtle is 

 heard in our lan(L" * * * "O my dove, 

 tliou ai't in the clefts of the rociv, in the 

 covert of the steep place." 



Another reference to tlie migration of 

 birds is found in the prophecy of Jere- 

 miah. '"Yea, the Stoik in the heavens 

 knoweth his appointed times, and the 

 Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow 

 observe the time of their coming." So 

 good an authority as Van Lmnep in his 

 "Bible Lands," declares that in these 

 migrations the smaller birds of Pales- 

 tine, such as tlie Sparrows and the 

 Finches, are borne on the backs of the 

 larger, as the Cranes and the Storks, 

 across the ^lediterranean, or a part of 

 it, into Africa ; and that tliese large 

 birds fly low and call the smaller to take 

 passage with them when ihey leave, but 

 on their return tly iiigh and permit the 

 smaller birds to leave theni at their 

 pleasure. 



The departure of tlie birds to the 

 warmer countries seems to be referred 

 to in this passage from the book of 

 Job. "Doth the Hawk soar by thy 

 wisdom and stretch out her wings tow- 

 ard the South ? The first part of this 

 question plainly implies that there is a 

 mystery in flight beyond our ready 

 knowledge, a fact that the Duke of 

 Argyle fully admits in his discussion of 

 theflightof birds in his "Reign of Law." 

 This picture of tlie Hawk stretching out 

 her wings toward the South might almost 

 or quite, perhaps, be compared with 

 Browning's beautiful picture : 



"What did I say? — that a small l)ircl sings 

 All day long, save when a brown pair 



Of Hawks from the wood float with wide wings 

 Strained to a bell : 'gainst noon-day glare, 



You (^ouiit the streaks and rings." 



Th'' helplessness of storm-driven 

 migratory birds and the ease with which 

 they are taken after a long flight across 

 the sea, as well as the vast multitudes 

 in which the flocks may appear, are 

 clearly stated in the book of Numbers : 

 "A wind brouglit (Quails from the sea, 

 and let them fall by the camp, about a 

 day's journey on the otiier sid^', and the 

 people rose up all that day, and all the 

 night, and all the next day, and gather- 

 ed tlie quails." Perhaps the accounts 

 we have read of the havoc wrought 

 among the flocks of wild I'igeons in the 

 earlier days of this country would come 

 the nearest to this liiblical naiTative ; 

 but it is well known tliat the Quails 

 migrate in great numbers, and there are 

 accounts of thieir being taken in nets by 

 the thousands in a day, and of sixty 

 thousands being netted on the little 

 island of Capri, near Naples, in a single 

 season. 



The unrest of the Turtle-dove in cap- 

 tivity and the eager swiftness with which 

 it flies back to its early home among the 

 rocky cliffs when set free, was made use 

 of bv King David, weary with the cares 

 of royalty and the faithlessness of tiiose 

 whom he desired to be able to trust, in 

 the touching cry of his heart for the 

 scenes of his boyhood ; "Oh, that I had 

 wings like a dove ! Then would I fly 

 away and be at rest. Lo, then would I 

 wander far off, 1 would lodge in the 

 wilderness, I would haste me to a shel- 

 ter from the stormy wind and tempest." 



The swiftness with which rumor brings 

 to a ruler anything uttered against him, — 

 so many hoping to secure favor by tell- 

 ing it, is well compared to the speed of 

 a bird's flight: "Curse not the king, no, 

 not in thy thought, for a bird of the air 

 shall carry the voice, and that which 



