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, 



