114 INTRODUCTION OF BIRDS. 
industry, and the transplantation of every object of agricultural 
production is, at a longer or shorter interval, followed by that 
of the birds which feed upon its seeds, or more frequently 
upon the insects it harbors. The vulture, the crow, and other 
winged scavengers, follow the march of armies as regularly as 
the wolf. Birds accompany ships on long voyages, for the sake 
of the offal which is thrown overboard, and, in such cases, it 
might often happen that they would breed and become natu- 
ralized in countries where they had been unknown before.* 
There is a familiar story of an English bird which built its nest 
in an unused block in the rigging of a ship, and made one or 
two short voyages with the vessel while hatching itseggs. Had 
the young become fledged while lying in a foreign harbor, they 
would of course have claimed the rights of citizenship in the 
country where they first took to the wing. +t 
* Gulls hover about ships in port, and often far out at sea, diligently watch- 
ing for the waste of the caboose. While the four great fleets, English, French, 
Turkish, and Egyptian, were lying in the Bosphorus, in the summer and autumn 
of 1855, a young lady of my family called my attention to the fact that the gulls 
were far more numerous about the ships of one of the fleets than about the 
others. This was verified by repeated observation, and the difference was 
owing no doubt to the greater abundance of the refuse from the cookrooms 
of the naval squadron most frequented by the birds. Persons acquainted with 
the economy of the navies of the states in question, will be able to conjecture 
which fleet was most favored with these delicate attentions. The American 
gull follows the steamers up the Mississippi, and has been shot 1,500 miles 
from the sea. 
+ Birds do not often voluntarily take passage on board ships bound for 
foreign countries, but I can testify to one such case. A stork, which had 
nested near one of the palaces on the Bosphorus, had, by some accident, injured 
a wing, and was unable to join his fellows when they commenced their winter 
migration to the banks of the Nile. Before he was able to fly again, he was 
caught, and the flag of the nation to which the palace belonged was tied to his 
leg, so that he was easily identified at a considerable distance. As his wing 
grew stronger, he made several unsatisfactory experiments at flight, and at 
last, by a vigorous effort, succeeded in reaching a passing ship bound south- 
ward, and perched himself ona topsail-yard. I happened to witness this move- 
ment, and observed him quietly maintaining his position as long as I could 
discern him with a spy-glass. I supposed he finished the voyage, for he cer- 
tainly did not return to the palace. 
