( viii ) 



Florida." * This circumstance leads to a suspicion, that the principal cause (I will not, out of complaisance to any one, 

 call it a necessarv instinct) which leads or impels these birds to migrate to the northward, is that they may make 

 choice of a proper chmate, abounding in their favourite food, to perform their amours, to buUd their nests, and to 

 rear their youn"-. JIuch lii^'ht might be thrown upon this curious subject, if natural history were cultivated in the 

 United-States, with a portion of that innocent and useful zeal with which it is cultivated in Europe : with only a small 

 portion of that ardent zeal which so strongly characterizes the Americans in their pursuit of gain. But, as yet, 

 little attention is paid to the study of nature in the United-States. In our colleges, it is not taught as an indispen- 

 sable branch of polite or useful knowledge, but is obliged to yield its laurels to languages which are withered or dead, 

 and tci studies which are useless or ignoble.t 



§. XIII. 



It has been supposed, that many of tlie birds which 1 have enumerated, pass, on their return to the south, during 

 the autiimnid months, through the countries which are situated to the west of the great ranges of our mountains. 

 That this is sometimes the case, I do not doubt : but it is not the general order of the migration of our birds. My 

 opinion, indeed, is opposed by the authority of some very respectable naturalists, whose sentiments deserve to be 

 mentioned in this place. " The birds (says the late Mr. George Edwards), which pass through the country north- 

 ward in the spring, being never observed to return the same way, Mr. Bartram supposes that they go to the southward 

 in autumn by some other passage beyond their inland mountains." | This notion is likewise adopted by Mr. Pennant. 

 .Speaking of the Motacilla vermivora, or Worm-eater, this able zoologist says, " It does not appear in Pennsyhania 

 till July, in its passage northward. Does not return the same way ; but is supposed to go beyond the mountains 

 which lie to the west. This seems to be the case with all the transient vernal visitants of Pennsylvania." § In the 

 above quotation, Mr. Edwards says, the birds are " never " observed to return the same way that they went. 

 This is, certainly, a mistake. Our swallows, which are migratory birds, as I think I have rendered veiy probable 

 in the Appendix, || are generally seen on their return southward, in the autumn, far to the east of the first ranges of 

 our mountains. But independently of the swallows, the same may be said of many other species of birds. Indeed, 

 I believe it may confidently be said, that most of the passeng(>r-birds, which pass by us, in the spring, return, in the 

 autumn, southward, the same way they went. This observation certainly applies to the Anas canadensis (AVild- 

 !ioo.se), the Columba migratoria (Wild-Pigeon), the Fringilla tristis (Tellow-Bird), Motacillia Sialis (Blue-Bird), 



Loxia Curvirosti-a (Crossbill), Fringilla (Hemp-Bird), and at least fifty others, which are constantly observed 



on their migrations southward, in the neighbourhood oi Philadelphia. These autumnal flocks sometimes consist 

 of many thousands nf individuals together : and it has been observed, that birds of different species sometimes nii- 

 •jrate in the same bi idles. 



§. XIV. 



It must not be imagined, that the birds which I have enumerated arrive uniformly, every year, at the times 

 which are prefixed to their names, in the first column. I have long been persuaded, that the unifoi-mity of the ar- 

 rival of the migratory birds, in any given country, is not so great as many natm'alists have imagined. The atten- 

 tion which I have paid to this curious subject in Pennsylvania, has convinced me, that my suspicion was well founded. 

 The migration of birds is not a "determinate instinct,^! " but an act of volition, or will. Hence, the seasons and 



• TravrU, &c. P:i|;i- 187. 



t I I'viT have- bi'iMi a frii-iid U> the study of the tivo aneieiit liinguaues. the Greek and the Latin, which are taught in our sdiools. They are absolutely 

 necessary to the complete attainment of some sciences, such as natural history (including botany), and medicine: and I think with Erasmus, that a 

 l.hysician should be ashamed not to know them. But too much time is dis."ipatcd in the acquisition of these languages. If I do not greatly mistake, 

 this truth begins to be acknowledged among us. Video meliara. If only one-silth part of the time which is consumed in acquiring the Greek and 

 Latin languages (particularly the former), were appropriated to the study of natural history, in less than twenty years, the animal, the vegetable, and 

 the mineral jiroductions of the United-States, would be pretty well investigated. But what, in the cultivation of a science so extensiv,-, and so dilHcult, 

 can be expected from the labours of two or three individuals, unaided by the public, and tiamellcd by professional engagements and pursuits? 



; Gleanings of Natural History, Part II. P. ioi. 5 Arctic Zoology. Vol.. II. P. 100, 101. |l See Page 16. t Dr. Adam Ferguson. 



