184 STORM AND WINTER. 



upon land, exists no local observation, no landmark, no guide ; the 

 currents of the atmosphere alone, in sympathy with those of water 

 perhaps, also, some invisible magnetic currents pilot this hardy 

 voyager. 



How strange a science ! Not only does the swallow in Europe 

 know that the insect which fails him there awaits him elsewhere, and 

 goes in quest of it, travelling upon the meridian ; but in the same 

 latitude, and under the same climates, the loriot of the United States 

 understands that the cherry is ripe in France, and departs without 

 hesitation to gather his harvest of our fruits. 



It would be wrong to believe that these migrations occur in their 

 season, without any definite choice of days, aud at indeterminate 

 epochs. We ourselves have been able to observe, on the contrary, the 

 exact and lucid decision which regulates them ; not an hour too soon 

 or too late. 



When living at Nantes, in October 1851, the season being still 

 exceptionally fine, the insects numerous, and the feeding-ground of the 

 swallows plentifully provided, it was our happy chance to catch sight 

 of the sage republic, convoked in one immense and noisy assembly, 

 deliberating on the roof of the church of St. Felix, which dominates 

 over the Erdre, and looks across the Loire. Why was the meeting 

 held on this particular day, at this hour more than at any other ? 

 We did not know ; soon afterwards we were able to understand it. 



Bright was the morning sky, but the wind blew from La Vende'e. 

 My pines bewailed their fate, and from my afflicted cedar issued a 

 low deep voice of mourning. The ground was strewn with fruit, 



