136 BIRDS OF PASSAGE. 



LETTER XVII. 



FROM CAROLINE TO EMILY. 



MY DEAR EMILY, 



Your inquiry concerning the passage of birds 

 from one country to another has procured for us a very 

 entertaining lecture from Mr. Palmer on this curious 

 subject, the general sense of which I shall transcribe 

 in my own words. Many species of birds change 

 their situation regularly at particular seasons of the 

 year ; either because the food which they live upon 

 fails, or for the sake of a warmer or colder climate, or 

 in search of a more secure retreat for rearing their 

 young. Some cross wide seas, and retire to distant 

 countries ; whilst others migrate only from one part 

 of the same country to another part that is more or less 

 warm, according to their constitution. Linnets are 

 said only to shift their quarters, breeding in one part 

 of the island, and removing with their young to an- 

 other. It appears, that all the individuals of a species 

 do not always make the same journeys, or retreat to the 

 same places. The hooded crow remains in North 

 Britain the whole year, whilst some of the species 



