266 SWALLOWS. 



they soar. About half an hour after they had flown off, 

 two of those confined in the room were released. For 

 about half a minute they flew exactly in the contrary 

 direction from their companions, and seemed bewildered ; 

 they then, however, turned about, and darted away with 

 the greatest velocity, in the same direction as the others. 

 The remainder were let out in the course of the day, at 

 intervals, between the hours of eleven and four o'clock, 

 all of which took the same direction as their predeces- 

 sors." 



This is one of the most minute and satisfactory ac- 

 counts of migration we ever met with ; and although 

 these birds were not, in this case, compelled by imme- 

 diate hunger, (for the stomachs of several found dead 

 were full of the remains of their common food, consisting 

 of small insects, spiders, &c.) there nevertheless can be 

 no doubt that one of their chief reasons for quitting us 

 is want of food ; for in Ceylon, where the species are 

 said to be similar to our own *, and where the climate is 

 such as to allow of a perpetual supply of food, they never 

 quit the island. Why, indeed, they ever should quit 

 those favoured spots, where they can exist in the midst 

 of plenty, without wandering to distant regions, is the 

 most surprising part of their history ; and it is difficult 

 to account for a flight of Swallows departing from the 

 warm climate of the tropics, to pass their short Summers 

 in such remote and uncongenial quarters of the globe as 

 Iceland, in the north, and Port Famine, near Cape Horn, 

 in the south, in both of which inhospitable regions they 

 are found, as well as near the still more cheerless shores 

 of Hudson's Bay, where the supply of food is more par- 

 ticularly precarious, owing to the large masses of ice 

 which hang upon the northern sides of the bay until the 

 beginning of August, every breeze from which sweeps 

 over the land, chilling the insects and driving them to 

 shelter; and, when this happens, the Swallows suffer 

 severely, and many of their young perish. Whereas, in 



* PERCIVAL'S Ceylon, 



