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it to some particular and inherent law, imposed 

 upon them hy their Creator. One thing, how- 

 ever, is evident, that these journeys are not com- 

 menced or pursued as man would pursue them 

 that they are the result of intuitive impulse, 

 not of thought, reason and deliberation. 



A bird of the migrating kind, even when con- 

 fined for a series of years within the close bar- 

 riers of a cage, has been observed, when the 

 periodical seasons of its natural journey ings has 

 arrived, to become restless and feverish, and to 

 strive with incessant and unwearied efforts to 

 escape from its prison ; whereas, had reason been 

 its privilege, a moment's reflection would have 

 shewn it that its attempts were vain and futile. 

 When we can explain the nature of the impulse 

 which actuates the beaver to construct its hut, 

 the bird to build its nest, and the spider, the 

 silk- worm and the bee, respectively to form their 

 web, their cocoon and their comb and all this 

 as easily and faultlessly the first time of under- 

 taking it, as at any subsequent period we may 

 attempt an explanation of that which prompts 

 animals, under certain conditions, to migrate ; 

 but until we can do the former, I apprehend we 

 must be content to acquiesce in the latter as an 

 ultimate fact. 



But granting this impulse, many have been 

 so astonished at the prodigious journies of mi- 

 grating birds, as almost to doubt whether any 

 such be really performed. These sceptics have 

 had recourse to the idea that swallows, for ex- 



