548 



A HISTORY OF 



us ; and for a few days previous to their de- 

 parture asse.nble in vast flocks, on house tops, 

 as if deliberating on the fatiguing journey that 

 lay before them. This is no slight under- 

 taking, as their flight is directed to Congo, 

 Senegal, and along the whole Morocco shoiv. 

 There are some, however, left behind in this 

 general expedition, that do not depart till eight 

 or ten days after the rest. These are chiefly 

 the latter weakly broods, which are not yet in 

 a condition to set out. They are sometimes 

 even too feeble to venture, till the selling in of 

 winter ; while their parents vainly exhort 

 them to efforts which instinct assures them 

 they are incapable of performing. Thus it 

 often happens, that the wretched little families, 

 being compelled to stay, perish the first cold 

 weather that comes; whil-the tender parents 

 share the fate of their offspring, and die with 

 the new-fledged brood. 



Those that migrate, are first observed to 

 arrive in Africa, as Adanson assures us, about 

 the beginning of October. They are thought 

 to have performed their fatiguing journey in 

 the space of seven davs. They are sometimes 

 seen, when interrupted by contrary winds, 

 wavering in their course far off at sea, and 

 lighting upon whatever ship they find in their 

 passage. They then seem spent with famine 

 and fatigue ; yet still they boldly venture, 

 when refreshed by a few hours rest, to renew 

 their flight, and continue the course which 

 they had been steering before. 



These are facts, proved by incontestable au- 

 thority; yet it is a doubt whether all swallows 

 migrate in this manner, or whether there may 

 not be some species of this animal that, though 



externally alike, are so internally different, as 

 to be very differently affected by the approach 

 of winter. We are assured from many, and 

 these not contemptible witnesses, that swal- 

 lows hide themselves in holes under ground, 

 joined close together, bill against bill, and feet 

 against feet. feo:iie inform us, that they have 

 seen them taken out of the water, and even 

 from under the ice, in bunches, where they 

 are asserted to pass the winter, without motion. 

 Reaumur, who particularly interested himself 

 in this inquiry, received several accounts of 

 bundles of swallows being thus found in quar- 

 ries, and under the water. These men, there- 

 fore, have a right to some degree of assent, 

 and are not to lose all credit from our igno- 

 rance of what they aver. 



All, however, that we have hitherto dissected, 

 are formed within like other birds ; and seem 

 to offer no observable variety. Indeed, that 

 they do not hide themselves under water, has 

 been pretty well proved, by the noted experi- 

 ment of Frisch, who tied several threads, dyed 

 in water-colours, round the legs of a great 

 number of swallows that were preparing for 

 their departure : these, upon their return the 

 ensuing summer, brought their threads back 

 with them, no way damaged in their colour ; 

 which they most certainly would, if, during 

 the winter, they had been steeped in water : 

 yet still this is a subject on which we must 

 suspend our assent, as Klein, the naturalist, 

 has brought such a number of proofs in de- 

 fence of his opinion, that swallows are tor- 

 pid in winter, as even the most incredu- 

 lous must allow to have some degree of proba- 

 bility. 



CHAPTER CXI. 



THE HUMMING-BIRD, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



HAVING given some history of the man- 

 ners of the most remarkable birds of which 

 accounts can be obtained, I might now go to 

 a very extensive tribe, remarkable for the 

 splendour and the variety of their plumage : 

 but the description of the colours of a beauti- 

 ful bird, has nothing in it that can inform or 



entertain; it rather exntes a longing, which 

 it is impossible for words to satisfy . Natural- 

 ists, indeed, have endeavoured to satisfy this 

 desire by coloured prints ; but, beside that 

 these at best give only a faint resemblance of 

 nature, and arc a very indifferent kind of 

 painting, the bird itself has a thousand beauties, 



