106 BRITISH LAND BIKDS. 



birds are natives of the northern regions, and 

 while here, being in a foreign country, they have 

 evident marks of keeping a kind of watch, to give 

 notice of the approach of danger. The fieldfare 

 comes shortly before old Michaelmas, and departs 

 very early in May. Few birds are more regular 

 in their time of arrival than these. It is indeed 

 wonderful, when we consider the amazing distances 

 birds have to travel, the accidents they are liable 

 to meet ; the adverse winds and rough weather they 

 brave how accurate are the times of their going 

 and coming. It appears almost miraculous. If a 

 table were kept, year by year, of their motions on 

 these occasions, perhaps they would not be found to 

 vary a fortnight in a hundred years, and yet what 

 seas, rocks, and continents, have many of them to 

 traverse ! And so it has been from of old, even in 

 the days when the prophet Jeremiah rebuked 

 Israel for their want of consideration, teaching 

 them wisdom by the birds ; saying, "The stork in 

 the heavens knoweth her appointed time ; and the 

 turtle, and the crane, and the swallow observe the 

 time of their coming ; but my people know not 

 the judgment of the Lord." 



That curious little bird, the WATER OUSEL, or 

 dipper, is allied to the thrush and blackbird in 

 many points ; but it has also the habits and powers 

 of the moor-hen, living constantly by the sides of 



