NATURE IN MOTION. 75 



swans in the shape of a wedge, and swallows in broad 

 ranks; starlings roll on in large crowds, constantly whirl- 

 ing around an axis in the centre of their body, and all 



ranged in figure, wedge tbcir way and set forth 



Their airy caravan, high over seas 

 Flying, and over lands with mutual wing 

 Easing their flight." 



Even feeble, ill-winged birds follow the all-powerful im- 

 pulse, and traverse vast seas and continents as best they 

 can. The Virginia partridge, when going north, is so heavy 

 on the wing, that many fall into the rivers and end their 

 journey by swimming. But of all birds the quail pro- 

 ceeds, probably, in the most peculiar manner. When they 

 wish to leave Europe for Africa, they wait patiently for 

 a strong northwestern wind; as soon as this sets in they 

 start, and flapping one wing, while they present the other 

 to the gale, half oar half sail, they graze the billows of 

 the Mediterranean with their fat, heavy rumps, and bury 

 themselves in the sands of Africa, that they may serve 

 as food to the famished inhabitants of Zara. On other 

 journeys, when they have to pass over land, they make 

 their way running and hopping, until they reach the shore. 

 Tired and exhausted, the weary rest on the rigging of 

 ships, or make regular stations in the Mediterranean, on 

 Malta and the Lipari islands ; in the northern seas, on 

 Heligoland and Norderney, so that the inhabitants of these 

 places depend upon a large harvest of quails, like the 

 Jews of old, as a condition of their existence. In Heligo- 

 land there prevailed, we are told, the quaint usage, that 

 the preacher in his pulpit, when he saw from his elevated 



