278 Captain Eeg's Discovery of an 



bourhood of Geneva from the 10th to the 23d of October ; 

 and, in England, they disappear between the 15th of October, 

 and the 18th of November. The earliest appearance of the 

 cuckoo near Geneva is noted on the 29th of March 1809— 

 and its earliest appearance in England, April 22, 1769- 



One of the most curious particulars connected with the an- 

 nual migrations of birds, is the circumstance of individuals 

 returning for a series of years to the same nestling-places. 

 Spallanzani having tied a thread of red silk round the leg of 

 a swallow, which built its nest in his window, saw for three 

 seasons the same stranger annually appear ; and similar in- 

 stances are on record concerning many other species of migra- 

 tory birds. This wonderful direction of instinct, which di- 

 vides the innumerable flocks of birds in their progress north- 

 ward, and leads particular families to seek the protection of 

 the same roof, or the same chimney-top which formerly shel- 

 tered them, affords a subject not the least worthy of contem- 

 plation, among the thousand instances of wisdom and benefi- 

 cence which arrest the student of Nature at every step of his 

 progress. S. 



Akt. XVII. — Account of the Discovery of an Inhabited 

 Island in the Pacific. By Captain Eeg of the Pollux 

 Sloop of War, in the Service of his Majesty the King of 

 the Netherlands. In a Letter to Dr Brewster from 

 G. Moll, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Univer- 

 sity of Utrecht. 



My Deae Sir, 



1 wo vessels in the service of his Majesty, the King of the Ne- 

 therlands, have lately crossed the Pacific. After leaving Wash- 

 ington's Island, it was deemed expedient to keep in the 

 seventh parallel of south latitude, sailing to the westward, 

 being the track in which Captain Eeg, commanding the Pol- 

 lux sloop of war, thought some islands might probably be dis- 

 covered. The coral islands in those seas being generally 

 small and low, it was reckoned prudent to proceed at night 



