ON BIRDS. 27 



have seen them do, and convey them to some 

 more secure place, returning quickly for the 

 rest, till all are removed. Now, in viewing the 

 structure of the foot of the lark, one cannot help 

 admiring the goodness of a benevolent Creator, 

 who has thus supplied one of His creatures with 

 the means of rearing its young. Should the egg 

 be only just hatched, the young will be removed 

 in the same way. 



I will now tell you that there are about forty 

 different sorts of tender and, generally, what are 

 called soft-billed birds, that is, birds that feed 

 on insects, which arrive in this country from 

 far-distant places every spring. You may not 

 be aware that these little birds perform their 

 long journeys in the night, led by an unerring 

 instinct, which the Great Creator has implanted 

 in them. This fact I have ascertained from some 

 of the keepers of lighthouses, who have informed 

 me that they have occasionally found these birds, 

 early in the morning, killed by flying against 

 the revolving light. They have also found 

 woodcocks, snipes, and other birds, dead, show- 

 ing that they also migrated in the night. As 

 another proof of this curious fact, I may mention 

 that, riding out early one morning in a meadow, 



