MIGRATIONS. 183 



until after the event, should interrogate this instructive precursor 

 which announces them ? This is the principle of auguries. And there 

 is no truer wisdom than this pretended "folly of antiquity." 



Meteorology, especially, may derive from hence a great advantage. 

 It will possess the surest means. And already it has found a guide 

 in the foresight of the birds. Would to Heaven that Napoleon, in 

 September 1811, had taken note of the premature migration of the 

 birds of the North ! From the storks and the cranes he might have 

 secured the most trustworthy information. In their precocious 

 departure, he might have divined the immineney of a severe and 

 terrible winter. They hastened towards the South, and he he 

 remained at Moscow ! 



In the midst of the ocean, the weary bird which reposes for a 

 night on the vessel's mast, beguiled afar from his route by this 

 moving asylum, recovers it, nevertheless, without difficulty. So 

 complete is his sympathy with the globe, so exactly does he know 

 the true realm of light, that, on the following morning, he 

 commits himself to the breeze without hesitation ; the briefest con- 

 sultation with himself suffices. He chooses, on the immense abyss, 

 uniform and without other path than the vessel's track, the exact 

 course which will lead him whither he wishes to go. There, not as 



When sparkling lamps their sputtering light advance, 

 And in the sockets oily bubbles dance. 



" Then, after showers, 'tis easy to descry, 

 Returning suns, and a serener sky ; 

 The stars shine smarter, and the moon adorns, 

 As with unborrowed beams, her sharpened horns ; 

 The filmy gossamer now flits no more, 

 Xor halcyons bask on the short sunny shore : 

 Their litter is not tossed by sows unclean, 

 But a blue draughty mist descends upon the plain. 

 And owls, that mark the setting sun, declare 

 A star-light evening, and a morning fair. . . . 

 Then thrice the ravens rend the liquid air, 

 And croaking notes proclaim the settled fair. 

 Then, round their airy palaces they fly 

 To greet the sun: and seized with secret joy, 

 When storms are over-blown, with food repair 

 To their forsaken nests, and callow care." 



