OF SELBORNE. 231 



impatient of a sultry climate : but then I cannot help 

 wondering why kites and hawks, and such hardy birds 

 as are known to defy all the severity of England, and 

 even of Sweden and all north Europe, should want to 

 migrate from the south of Europe, and be dissatisfied 

 with the winters of Andalusia 1 . 



It does not appear to me that much stress may be 

 laid on the difficulty and hazard that birds must run in 

 their migrations, by reason of vast oceans, 'cross winds, 

 &c. ; because, if we reflect, a bird may travel from Eng- 

 land to the equator without launching out and exposing 

 itself to boundless seas, and that by crossing the water 

 at Dover, and again at Gibraltar. And I with the more 

 confidence advance this obvious remark, because my 

 brother has always found that some of his birds, and 

 particularly the swallow kind, are very sparing of their 

 pains in crossing the Mediterranean : for when arrived 

 at Gibraltar, they do not 



" Ranged in figure wedge their way, 



and set forth 



Their airy caravan high over seas 



Flying, and over lands with mutual wing 



Easing their flight." MILTON. 



but scout and hurry along in little detached parties of 

 six or seven in a company; and sweeping low, just 

 over the surface of the land and water, direct their 

 course to the opposite continent at the narrowest pas- 

 sage they can find. They usually slope across the bay 



1 May not the migration of the kites and hawks, and other birds of 

 prey, at these seasons, be determined by that of the smaller birds in whose 

 company they are found ? The swallows and other ordinary birds of 

 migration pass northwards, impelled by the stimulus that urges them to 

 seek their usual breeding places : their enemies travel with them, proba- 

 bly because they are assured of full banquets from among the armies of 

 small and defenceless creatures which are on such occasions congregated. 

 The stragglers in such a multitude, and those that weary in their flight 

 and drop off from the main body, must alone be almost innumerable. 

 E. T. B. 



