HIRUNDO URBICA. 201 



— the swallow being the harbinger of summer, as the owl is the 

 herald of the night ; for, as the young god of love, Adonis, said 

 to Venus, its goddess : — 



" Look, the world's comforter, with weary gait 

 His day's hot task hath ended in the west ; 

 The owl, night's herald, shrieks; 'tis very late, 

 The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest, 



And coal-black clouds that shadow heaven's light 

 Do summon us to part, and bid good-night." 



In June 1863, during heavy rain, a nest with nearly ripe 

 young ones fell down on the sill of one of our windows ; having 

 an old mavis's nest, the young ones were put in it and placed on 

 the sill. The old birds were in a sad pickle at first, flew 

 screaming about, but, after seeing their young safely ensconced 

 in their new home, at once set about putting a roof on the old 

 nest, leaving the usual opening, and fed them till they flew. 



The migration of birds has suggested many speculations 

 — like the question where do sea-birds, thousands of miles at 

 sea, get water to drink ? — some theorists saying they fly towards 

 the dark rain-clouds and receive it there. Formerly there was 

 no difficulty in solving this or any other problem. 



They were "guided by instinct." Instinct, like Mesopo- 

 tamia, or the bible, was a " blessed word" to naturalists, for 

 like charity, it covered many of the sins of ignorance ; but 

 now science enquires the why and the wherefore of everything. 

 In his day, Jack Falstaff said, "instinct was a great matter," 

 he " was a coward upon instinct." 



Modern scientists say that birds select narrow channels, and, 

 having great powers of sight, and the natural means of taking 

 a very wide view, simply see land on the other side, and fly 

 towards it — that is if some of the channels crossed are not too 

 wide for this. 



An interesting report on migration was laid before the 

 Biological Society in 1892, in which Professor Moseley said 

 that penguins migrated regularly to Tristan d'Acunha, an 

 island 2,000 miles distant from any land, which they, at least, 

 could not see before they started. 



In Nature, Mr Warde Fowler shows that swallows take long 

 flights from the west to the east coasts in search of a narrow 

 part of our channel during migration. 



An officer of the German navy, Captain Sebelier, records 

 some facts that lessen the difficulty : — " The islanders of the 

 Marshall group in the North Pacific Ocean make long voyages 



