MIGRATION. 31 



by similarity of habits. Some of them belong to the divi- 

 sion of Water Fowls, as the terns and gulls ; while others are 

 Land Birds, as the swallow and corn-crake. They differ also 

 remarkably with regard to their food. Thus, the hobby is 

 carnivorous ; the gulls and terns, piscivorous ; the swallow, 

 insectivorous ; and the turtle dove and the quail, granivo- 

 rous. They, however, present one point of resemblance. 

 All of them, during their residence in this country, per- 

 form the important offices of pairing, incubation, and rear- 

 ing their young; and hence may, with propriety, be 

 termed the natives of the country. We hail their arrival 

 as the harbingers of spring, and feel the blank which they 

 leave on their departure, although it is in some measure 

 supplied by another colony of the feathered race, who come 

 to spend with us the dreary months of winter. 



THE WINTER BIRDS OF PASSAGE have more points of 

 resemblance among themselves than those of the former di- 

 vision. They chiefly belong to the tribe of water-fowls. 

 None of them are insectivorous, and very few are granivo- 

 rous. They chiefly frequent the creeks and sheltered bays 

 of the sea, and the inland lakes, or they obtain their food 

 in marshy grounds, or at the margins of springs. When 

 the rigours of the season are over, and when other birds 

 which are stationary are preparing for incubation, these 

 take their departure, to be again succeeded by our summer 

 visitants. 



We have stated generally, that our summer and winter 

 birds of passage visit us at stated seasons of the year ; that 

 the summer visitants arrive in spring and depart in autumn ; 

 and that the winter visitants arrive in autumn and depart in 

 spring. But the different species do not all observe the 

 same periods of arrival and departure. Thus, among the 

 summer birds of passage, the wheat-ear always precedes 

 the swallow, while the swallow arrives before the martin, 



