UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 161 



collected ; but in such an exhausted state that 

 they immediately went to sleep, and allowed 

 themselves to be handled without making any 

 attempt to escape. At daylight next morning 

 they rose, as if by a single impulse, and flew 

 away to the northward ; and several prodigious 

 flights of the same bird were observed, at a great 

 height in the air, pursuing the same course to- 

 wards Europe. 



" Poor creatures," said Frederick, " they 

 must have come all the way from the north 

 coast of Africa. Can you tell me, father, in what 

 part of the Mediterranean this happened, that I 

 may measure on the map the distance they had 

 flown ?" 



" I do not recollect," said my uncle ; " but if 

 I am right in my ideas of their swiftness, the 

 widest part of that sea would be the affair of a 

 few hours. It has been estimated that a swal- 

 low usually flies a mile in a minute; and 

 sixteen or seventeen hours daylight will give 

 about a thousand miles for a single day's jour- 

 ney at that velocity. Now when you recollect 

 that here we see those birds continue on the 

 wing the whole day without the least appearance 

 of being tired, we can only account for the extra- 

 ordinary fatigue of those which perched on the 

 Colonel's ship, by supposing their flight to have 

 continued for several days ; and thus three or 

 four days' exertion might have brought them 



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