242 SWALLOWS. 



and flew about the room as rapidly as on a summer's day in the open 

 air. Between eight and nine o'clock the main body went off, with 

 the exception of five or six, and were absent for about two hours, 

 when they returned in seemingly greater numbers than before, and 

 remained till the following morning, when, between nine and ten 

 o'clock, there appeared a great commotion amongst them, and within 

 a few minutes they all took their departure, in a south-east direction, 

 appearing to have entirely cast aside their torpidity, and to be as 

 full of animation as ever. Their flight was at a great height, 

 farther than the eye could reach, to which they rose by several 

 circumvolutions — that is, flying round in large circles, just as Kites 

 and Ravens do when 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 pre* 

 decessors." 



This is one of the most minute and satisfactory accounts of 

 migration we ever met with ; and although these birds were 

 not, in this case, compelled by immediate 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 



* Pekcival's Ceylon. 



