BLUE-BIRD. 321 



never, indeed, explored the depths of caverns in search of him, 

 because I would as soon expect to meet with tulips and butter- 

 flies there, as Blue-birds, but among hundreds of woodmen, who 

 have cut down trees of all sorts, and at all seasons, I have nev- 

 er heard one instance of these birds being found so immured 

 in winter; while in the whole of the middle and eastern states, 

 the same general observation seems to prevail that the Blue-bird 

 always makes his appearance in winter after a few days of mild 

 and open weather. On the other hand, I have myself found 

 them numerous in the woods of North and South Carolina, in 

 the depth of winter, and I have also been assured by different 

 gentlemen of respectability, who have resided in the islands of 

 Jamaica, Cuba, and the* Bahamas and Bermudas, that this very 

 bird is common there in winter. We also find, from the works 

 of Hernandes Piso and others, that it is well known in Mexico, 

 Guiana and Brazil; and if so, the place of its winter retreat is 

 easily ascertained, without having recourse to all the trumpery 

 of holes and caverns, torpidity, hybernation, and such ridicu- 

 lous improbabilities. 



Nothing is more common in Pennsylvania than to see large 

 flocks of these birds in spring and fall, passing, at considerable 

 heights in the air; from the south in the former, and from the 

 north in the latter season. I have seen, in the month of Octo- 

 ber, about an hour after sun-rise, ten or fifteen of them descend 

 from a great height and settle on the top of a tall detached tree, 

 appearing, from their silence and sedateness, to be strangers, 

 and fatigued. After a pause of a few minutes they began to 

 dress and arrange their plumage, and continued so employed 

 for ten or fifteen minutes more; then, on a few warning notes 

 being given, perhaps by the leader of the party, the whole re- 

 mounted to a vast height, steering in a direct line for the south- 

 west. In passing along the chain of the Bahamas towards Ihe 

 West Indies, no great difficulty can occur from the frequency 

 of these islands; nor even to the Bermudas, which are said to 

 be 600 miles from the nearest part of the continent. This may 



seem an extraordinary flight for so small a bird; but it is never- 

 VOL. II. s s 



