INTRODUCTbRY DISCOURSE. 29 



times stay with us the whole year, and at other times depart : this de- 

 pends upon the mildness of the weather, and the quantity of food. With 

 the ancients, husbandry was regulated by the appearance of particular 

 birds ; and calendars of Flora have been kept in different parts of Europe, 

 embracing this and other objects which are calculated to be highly use- 

 ful. I do not know that any calendar of this kind lias been made in this 

 state ; but any person possessed of any talent for observation might .easily 

 compile one ; which, in order to be complete, ought to contain an ac- 

 count of the leafing and flowering of plants and trees, the progress of vege- 

 tation, the departure and return of bjrds, and correct meteorological ob- 

 servations. 



When on this subject it may not be amiss to draw your atten- 

 tion to a very striking difference between the country east and west 

 of the Alleghany Mountains in this state, which is to be observed 

 very distinctly in relation to birds, plants and quadrupeds, and which for- 

 merly applied to the aborigines. At the first settlement by europeans, 

 the indian population was greater on the west than on the east side of the 

 mountains. I have seen that beautiful bird, the lozia cardinalis, in our 

 western country ; and I believe it never appears here : there are other 

 birds that follow the cultivation of the country from the east: this is the 

 case with the crow ;(20) in some of the western parts of our country he 

 is not to be observed ; the raven supplies his place : and it is conjectured 

 that several of the migrating birds come up on our side of the mountains 

 and return on the west. There are several trees and plants in that part of 

 the state which do not grow in this. There seem to be two races of squir- 

 rels : in the west they are black, in the east they are gray ; and while ma- 

 ny wild animals have left us, the great hare of the north is extending his 

 excursions in a southern direction. (21) 



On the approach of cold weather the birds, as if actuated by an intelli- 

 gent principle, prepare for their departure. Some of them retire in the 

 night, or ascend so high that their flight is not observed ; while others ap- 

 pear in full view and attract not only the notice of the naturalist, but be- 

 came the subject of poetical description. 



Milton thus speaks of the migration of cranes : 



" Part loosely wing the region, part more wise 



In comraqn, ranged in figure wedge their way, 



Intelligent of seasons, and set forth 



Their airy caravan, high orer seas 



Flying and over lands, with mutual wing 



Easing their flight : so steers the pruden' crane 



Her annual voyage, borne on winds ; the air 



Floats as they pass, fann'd with unnumber'd plumes." 

 PARADISI LOST. 



And Tasso, in like manner, says, 



With such a sound the cranes embodied fij 

 From thracian shores to seek a warmer sky, 



