Migration of Swallows* 349 



birds, in their downward and upward flights ; w^hilst 

 this place of retirement from chilly nights, or untime- 

 ly inclemencies of the spring, or autumn, afforded, to 

 the myriads who resorted thither, a comfortable shel- 

 ter ; when they had collected, on their arrival from 

 their winter quarters ; and before dispersion to breed ; 

 and for more easy subsistence. Or, after their sum- 

 mer, and during their autumnal abidance, they had 

 reassembled, for departure, to seek mxore temperate re- 

 gions; having arrived, in some years earlier, and depart- 

 ed in others, later, on their distant flights, to and from 

 milder latitudes. If one were to form a comparative esti- 

 mate, between the smaller birds, and the wild pigeon, 

 which flies sixty or eighty miles to its feeding place ; 

 and returns to its nest or roost, between sun rise and 

 ten o'clock in the same morning ; (see Wilson^ vol. 5,) 

 we might conclude, that migratory birds may linger 

 with safety, before they set out on their aerial voya- 

 ges. They can soon arrive at their places of destina- 

 tion. They breathe, in proportion to size, the great- 

 est quantity of air, and are endowed with superior 

 muscular strength, beyond any other animal.* 



* Some birds of passage hybernate with us, and leave us in the 

 spring. One of these kinds is the short-eared owl, described 

 by Wilson^ in his 4ih vokime. 



The numbers of 7?n'ce, moles^ and other vermin, destroyed by the 

 iStrix brachyotos^ or short-eared oivl, are truly suprising. All the 

 owl tribe are mousers. A pine tree, spreading and thick set, near 

 my house, affords a shelter and roost to about a dozen of these owls, 

 through the winters. The quantities of fur, teet!i, and mashed 

 bones, of a variety of diminutive animals, — such as mice, moles, 

 small squirrels, and probably also young rats, — contained in the or- 



