86 MIGRATION AND FLIGHT. 



they are held by the Turks is, that, in consequence pro- 

 bably of their restless life, they are supposed to be 

 bodies animated by condemned souls, thus doomed for 

 ever to frequent the scenes of their former existence. 



From this superstition, in addition to the prevailing 

 opinion that they are Halcyons or Kingfishers, our 

 classical readers may be reminded of the fable of Ceyx 

 and Halcyone. 



Volabat 



Percutiensque levem modo natis aera pennis, 

 Stringebat summas ales miserabilis undas. 



* * * 5ft * * 



Hos aliquis senior circum freta lata volantes 



Spectat. Ovm,^Metam., b. xi., 731. 



We cannot quit the subject of the flight of birds, 

 without entering a little more at large upon one so 

 closely connected with it as migration, to which we have 

 already briefly alluded ; for certainly, there is no instinct 

 which seems to act upon them more forcibly, or which, 

 after all, is so deeply involved in mystery. 



A careless observer will probably urge that there is 

 no difficulty in accounting for the periodical journeys 

 and voyages of birds. He will say that it is for the 

 sake of food, no longer to be found in the particular 

 spot in which the bird has been dwelling for a few pre- 

 vious weeks or months; or, that it is for the purpose of 

 breeding in more favoured situations, or for some other 

 less ostensible cause. But none of these reasons will 

 hold good when closely examined. Is it for the sake of 

 rearing its young that the Woodcock leaves us early in 

 the spring for the marshes or heaths of Norway, when 

 England and Scotland, even now, might provide spots 

 as solitary and appropriate as the most timid bird could 

 desire? Is it to feed on our comparatively scanty supply 

 of gnats and midges, and other small insects of the air, 

 that a certain number of the Swallow tribes tarry in 

 Britain during the summer season, when Sweden and 

 Norway could provide, in tenfold quantities, insects of 



