110 



APRIL. 



the power of so existing. But of all the absurd 

 hypotheses broached on this head, that of their 

 remaining at the bottom of pools and marshes 

 under water, during winter, is the most pre- 

 posterous. Dissection has proved that they 

 have no organic provision for such a state, and 

 could not live half an hour in submersion ; so 

 that we are obliged to sacrifice our love of the 

 marvellous and mysterious, and to let the 

 poor birds go, as Nature has given them power, 

 to the southern lands of summer. 



The whinchat and yellow wagtail are said to 

 remain in the southern counties through the 

 winter, but they disappear from the northern 

 and midland ones. The ring-ousel merely 

 passes through this country on its Spring and 

 Autumnal journeys, staying a few days in 

 some particular spots. In the north of Eng- 

 land and Scotland, they too remain all the 

 year. 



