MIGRATION. 283 
years together; and in this country they have been 
successfully reared by Mr. Pearson. 
“ Five or six of these birds,” says Bewick, “ were 
taken about the latter end of August, 1784, in a bat 
fowling-net at night; they were put separately into 
small cages, and fed with nightingale’s food; in 
about a week or ten days they took food of them- 
selves, and seemed much strengthened by it; they 
were then put all together into a deep cage, four 
feet long, with gravel at the bottom; a broad shal- 
low pan was placed in it, in which they sometimes 
washed themselves. One day Mr. Pearson observ- 
ed that they went into the water with unusual ea- 
gerness, hurrying in and out again repeatedly, with 
such swiftness as if they had been suddenly seized 
with a phrensy. Being anxious to see the result, 
he left them to themselves about half an hour, and 
going to the cage, found them all huddled together 
in a corner apparently dead; the cage was then 
placed at a proper distance from the fire, when only 
two of them recovered and were as healthy as be- . 
fore; the rest died. The two remaining were al- 
lowed to wash themselves occasionally for a short 
time only, but their feet soon after became swelled 
and inflamed, which Mr. Pearson attributed to their 
perching, and they died about Christmas; thus the 
first year’s experiment was in some measure lost. 
Not discouraged by the failure of this, Mr. Pearson 
determined to make a second trial the succeeding 
year, from a strong desire of being convinced of 
the truth respecting their going into a state of tor- 
pidity. Accordingly, the next season, having taken 
some birds, he put them into the cage, and in every 
respect pursued the same method as with the last; 
but to guard their feet from the bad effects of the 
damp and cold, he covered the perches with flannel, 
and had the pleasure to observe that the birds throve 
extremely well; they sung their song through the 
winter, and soon after Christmas began to moult, 
